AHIARA DIOCESE IN CROSSHAIRS: THE REAL STORIES …24 [EXCERPTS FROM A BOOK IN PRINT]

Chapter 9: The Struggle Continued [i]

As the month of January 2013 began to wind down, evidence abounded that the crisis in Ahiara Diocese was only going to escalate and expand. The stormy cloud was hanging very low from every side. There were actions in all fronts. The bishops of the province had gotten more involved in trying to resolve the problem. Most of them had come under pressure from their colleagues in the CBCN and from the Nuncio to find a way to resolve the Ahiara Diocese crisis. As a result they increased their pressure on the diocesan administrator and the diocese in general to relent and allow Msgr. Okpalaeke to be ordained and installed as the bishop of the diocese.

I remember the encounter I had had with some bishops of the province on January 18, 2013, when Archbishop Fortunatus Nwachukwu, an indigene of Aba Diocese and a newly appointed Nuncio to Nicaragua, was being received in his home diocese of Aba. Because I was scheduled to meet with the secretary general of the Catholic Secretariat of Nigeria, Fr Ralph Madu, on that occasion, to collect the CSN advert in order to apply for the post of the director of social communication of the secretariat, I decided to attend the occasion. On learning that I was attending the reception of Archbishop Fortune Nwachukwu in Christ the King Cathedral, Aba, the administrator of our diocese, Msgr. Theo Nwalo, gave me a letter of congratulation to be delivered to the new archbishop on behalf of Ahiara Diocese as well as the authority to represent him and the diocese on the occasion.

As I got there, I hung around the bishop’s house a little bit waiting for an opportunity to deliver the letter to Archbishop Fortune Nwachukwu in person before the mass and the reception would get under way. It would be while I was there waiting that some bishops of the province started to arrive. One of them, a personal friend of mine, called me aside and suggested that I carry a proposal of the bishops of the province on the resolution of the Ahiara crisis back to the priests of our diocese. He told me that the bishops of the province would ask the priests of our diocese to permit the ordination of Msgr. Okpalaeke in the diocese on the condition that after he might have spent one year or two in Ahiara Diocese as bishop, he would be transferred to another diocese.

But without waiting to inform our priests of the proposal, I told the bishop that Ahiara diocesan priests would never accept such a proposal because the provincial bishops were promising what they could not deliver. I insisted to the bishop that it was not within the powers of the provincial bishops to promise that a Bishop Okpalaeke would be transferred out after he had been ordained and installed in Ahiara Diocese. I informed the bishop that the overwhelming decision of the priests of the diocese was that under no condition would the ordination of Msgr. Okpalaeke be permitted in Ahiara Diocese. I told him that the decision had long been taken that Msgr. Okpalaeke would never be allowed to serve even for one second as the bishop of Ahiara Diocese. The bishop told me that the bishops of the province were worried because the crisis in Ahiara Diocese was beginning to spiral out of control and wanted a quick resolution of the matter. I told him that they should try harder and find a solution that would be more acceptable to the priests of our diocese.

While the bishops of the province were desperately seeking for a way to resolve the Ahiara crisis, other fronts of the crisis were raging with activities. One of the most active fronts on the struggle was that maintained by some priests and lay people who were working night and day for the ordination and installation of the bishop-elect in Ahiara Diocese. The pro-Okpalaeke priests, as they were called, had begun to intensify their efforts to get the entire diocese to accept the new bishop. There were about four priests who were actively working on this front. But they had their collaborators which included some traditional rulers and some leaders of the knights especially those from the order of the Knights of St Mulumba. The members of this front were brimming with confidence on their ability to realize the bishopric of Msgr. Okpalaeke in Ahiara Diocese in spite of the massive protest they faced. As a result, they were working with lots of confidence.

But working equally hard to prevent the realization of the bishopric of Msgr. Okpalaeke in Ahiara Diocese were several other groups operating in several other fronts. One of the most portent fronts among these groups was formed by Mbaise sons and daughters in diaspora. With the early involvement of Mbaise citizens in diaspora, the struggle assumed a different dimension. There was greater international coordination of the struggle. Mbaise in diaspora employed their wealth of experience, their expertise in different fields of endeavour as well as their time and treasure to make sure that the pressure on both the bishops at home and the Vatican was sustained and unrelenting.

There were two outstanding fronts maintained by Mbaise citizens in diaspora. The first and perhaps the most portent was that formed in the major cities of America especially New York and Los Angeles. Galvanized by the writings of Professors Adolphus Amadi-Azuogu, Anthony Odinaka Nwachukwu, Oparaoji, and Drs. Mel Igbokwu, Nkwocha, etc, Mbaise sons and daughters in the USA became a great force in the struggle. They wrote quite prolifically on the internet and in Nigerian newspapers challenging the injustice done to their homeland and maintaining a sustained pressure on both the bishops of the province and the CBCN. They would expand their campaign to include pressuring the Vatican to take notice of the crisis in Ahiara Diocese. They organized intense fax campaigns to flood the offices of the Vatican with complaints about the injustice done to Ahiara Diocese.

However, the main thrust of diaspora Mbaise citizens in America was to unveil all the canonical deficiencies involved in the appointment of Msgr. Okpalaeke. Professor Amadi-Azuogu would use his expertise in biblical studies and canon law to pen engaging essays which contributed immensely in the sustained pressure on all concerned in the struggle. With his contacts in Rome and elsewhere, Professor Amadi-Azuogu was able to obtain critical helps that enabled the protagonists of the struggle to maintain a few steps ahead of their opponents. He would consistently warn Mbaise citizens at home to maintain active vigilance all through Mbaise land so as to prevent Msgr. Okpalaeke from taking a canonical possession of the diocese until the three months prescribed for him to be ordained by the canon law had elapsed. Through the American front there developed a kind of obsession among the priests and laity of Mbaise land to make sure that there were no untoward activities in Ahiara Diocese within the first three months from the day the announcement was made.

Another diaspora group that made a great difference was that formed in Europe, especially, in Germany and Rome. Mbaise sons and daughters in Europe worked on several fronts and levels to help the struggle achieve some of its set goals. They were the ones supplying crucial information on how the attention of the Vatican could be gotten in the struggle. With their contacts in Rome and the Vatican in particular they were able to ensure that the numerous letters written for that purpose reached their appropriate destinations. Without advertising their efforts on web pages unlike their American counterparts, Mbaise sons and daughters in Europe formed themselves into crucial arms and limbs for the struggle.

But while the main theatre of the struggle remained Ahiara Diocese, the chief protagonists of the struggle would remain Mbaise citizens at home especially the priests of Ahiara Diocese. Through their dogged efforts, the entire diocese was in a lockdown mode for fear that there might be an attempt to compel or trick the members of the College of Consultors to convene and listen to the Papal Bull appointing Msgr. Okpalaeke the bishop of Ahiara Diocese - an act that would give the bishop-elect his much-needed canonical possession of the diocese.

As a result of the fear surrounding the reading of the Papal Bull, all the members of the College of Consultors were literally being trailed and hounded by both the younger priests and the youths of the diocese for fear that they might sell out and hand over the diocese to Msgr. Okpalaeke. The main thrust of the fear was that Archbishop Obinna or the Nuncio might trick the Consultors into listening to the Papal Bull thereby ratifying the bishopric of Msgr. Okpalaeke in Ahiara Diocese. The diocesan canonists warned that if that was ever allowed to happen, there might not be any other thing else to fight for as the bishop-elect would gain the much needed canonical possession of the diocese and use it for whatever purposes he wanted.

Another group of Mbaise citizens at home that made very significant contribution to the struggle was made up of the members of the Mbaise socio-cultural organization called Ezuru Ezu Mbaise. The members of this group quickly formed themselves into the department of Homeland Security for Mbaise people. They kept assuring the ever-worrying priests of the diocese that there would be no way Mbaise land would be invaded by anybody without being repelled. They made elaborate arrangements for the defence of every part of Mbaise in case there would be an attempt to infiltrate or carry out any act of forceful imposition of Msgr. Okpalaeke as the bishop of Mbaise. The Ezuru Ezu socio-cultural organization would go to great lengths to ensure that Mbaise citizens were adequately prepared for what was thought to be an impending fight to defend Mbaise land against foreign invaders represented by the Catholic bishops of Nigeria, the indigenes of Awka Diocese and the members of the Knights of St Mulumba.

As fear and uncertainty descended on Ahiara Diocese, I was preparing to attend the CBCN-sponsored interview for the post of director of communication at the Catholic Secretariat in Abuja. The secretary of the Catholic Secretariat of Nigeria, Fr. Ralph Madu had sent me a number of text messages instructing me to report for the interview for the position of the director of Social Communications of the secretariat alongside the executive members of the CBCN who would be converging in Abuja for their board meeting from January 29, 2013.

On the morning of Tuesday, January 29, I boarded an Aero Contractor flight at Sam Mbakwe Internationl Cargo Airport, Owerri, en route to Abuja alongside the other members of CBCN board from Owerri ecclesiastical province. These included Archbishop AJV Obinna, Archbishop of Owerri Archdiocese and metropolitan of Owerri Ecclesiastical Province, Bishop Lucius Ugorji of Umuahia Diocese and Bishop Augustine Ukwuoma of Orlu Diocese.

As we got into the aircraft the bishops were beckoned into the business class of the plane for it was not fully loaded. But my second-row seat in the economy class immediately followed the business class compartment. As the bishops took possession of their seats, they were handed copies of the Guardian Newspaper of that day. In that Tuesday edition was an article on the bishopric crisis in Ahiara Diocese by a friend and a former class mate of mine at St Peter Claver Seminary, Okpala, Dr. Luke Onyekakeyah who had become a columnist and a member of the editorial board of the paper. I drew the attention of His Grace, Archbishop AJV Obinna to the article. He scanned through it and told me that whatever could be written about the crisis in Ahiara Diocese had already been written. What remained, according to him, was finding a solution to the problem.

As we got to the Daughters of Divine Love Retreat and Conference Centre [DRACC], Lugbe, Abuja, where the interview and the CBCN board meeting had been scheduled to take place, I kept a low profile knowing full well that some bishops might attempt to put me on the spot about the crisis in our diocese. However, I would also be curious throughout our stay in DRACC to see if I could divine what the bishops in attendance would be saying about the problem in our diocese. But as it would turn out, not many of them knew where I came from. And the only few who knew me did not care much to talk about the problem in Ahiara Diocese, at least within the reach of my earshot.

After two days, I had to leave DRACC because as a result of lack of quorum, the interview was rescheduled to the time of the plenary session of CBCN which would come up in two weeks time. But before leaving the place I had picked up enough information and insinuation to convince myself that the crisis in Ahiara Diocese was going to become a major topic during the plenary session of the CBCN meeting that would be holding from February 16, 2013. After completing the other businesses I wanted to do in Abuja, I returned home as quickly as I could make it. I was very eager to learn what the Caucus was doing and to share with them what I had gleaned from the bishops during their executive meeting in Abuja.

However, while I had been in Abuja for the botched interview, the Caucus had already met a few times and decided on sending powerful delegations to some of the bishops of Nigeria who might be persuaded to be sympathetic to our struggle. The intention was to try to get as many bishops as possible on the side of Ahiara Diocese before they would be converging during their CBCN plenary session in Abuja in a fortnight.

Immediately I got back from Abuja, I was summoned by the Caucus and briefed on what they were planning to do. But I told them that their plan was too expensive and did not hold any promise of yielding any positive results as all the bishops of Nigeria would not allow themselves to be seen as singing discordant notes on the crisis in Ahiara Diocese. I told them that the Nigerian bishops almost had their minds made up on the Ahiara crisis. Their opinion was that Ahiara Diocese must obey the Holy Father and accept the bishop that had been given to them. I would go ahead to tell the Caucus that from my experiences during my Abuja trip, all the bishops of Nigeria would be toeing the official line which was that Ahiara Diocese must obey the pope and accept the bishop given to them. I advised the Caucus that we had only two cards to play at that point in time. The first card was to make sure that every bishop in Nigeria had adequate information on what the struggle in Ahiara Diocese was all about. As a result, I told them that we must use the fastest currier services available to send the press release and the letter to Archbishop Obinna to all the bishops in Nigeria.

The two documents contained, I had argued, enough information about our struggle in Ahiara Diocese. Our next card, I advised, was to send a delegation to the papal Nuncio to Nigeria with a letter rejecting the appointment of Msgr. Okpalaeke as our bishop. I told the Caucus that until that point in time, there had not been any official notice to the Vatican that the bishop they appointed for our diocese had been rejected as unsuitable. I told them that everything that had been written along the line of rejecting the appointment of Msgr. Okpalaeke up to that time could be classified in journalism and law as hearsay or rumour. As a result, we needed to present an official letter of rejection of Msgr. Okpalaeke to the Nuncio.

These two positions were quickly adopted by the Caucus. The delegation to be sent to the Nuncio was immediately chosen and named. Immediately we drafted the letter of rejection to be tendered to the Nuncio in Abuja. The letter read:

February 4, 2013

His Excellency,

Most Rev Augustine Kasujja

Apostolic Nuncio in Nigeria

Abuja, Nigeria

Your Excellency,

Re: Msgr. Peter Ebere Okpalaeke

With utmost love for our most cherished Catholic faith, our total submission to the laws and traditions of our holy mother the Church, and with filial obedience to our Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI, Vicar of Christ on earth, we, the clergy and laity of the Catholic Diocese of Ahiara, Mbaise, Imo State, Nigeria, humbly and respectfully ask Your Excellency to accept and to channel to the Holy Father our rejection of Msgr. Ebere Peter Okpalaeke as the bishop-elect of our diocese.

We do this with a heavy heart though knowing full well that our decision might be misconstrued as disobedience to the wishes of our most cherished Holy Father. But ours is not disobedience but a filial disagreement with the process that produced a very unsuitable bishop-elect for our great diocese. We believe that the process that resulted in Msgr. Ebere Peter Okpalaeke being appointed the bishop-elect of Ahiara Diocese neither took into consideration the peculiar realities of our rural diocese nor treated the priests and laity of Ahiara Diocese, Mbaise, fairly.

Being aware of the severe consequences of a potential bishopric of Msgr. Okpalaeke in Ahiara Diocese, we are left with no other option than to reject it outright so as to save the bourgeoning faith of our people and to preserve the traditional unity among the clergy that had become the hallmark of Ahiara Diocese since its inception in 1987.

We humbly request Your Excellency to restart the process of choosing a suitable bishop-elect to shepherd the great Catholics of Ahiara Diocese in Mbaise, Imo State.

Sincerely yours in the service of the Lord and His Church