AHIARA DIOCESE IN CROSSHAIRS: THE REAL STORIES …35 [EXCERPTS FROM A BOOK IN PRINT]

Chapter 13: The Die is cast [iii]

The publication of the strategies of the bishop-elect and his group on the worldwide web seemed to have taken the wind out of their sail. The whole thing had confused them a lot. As a result, they appeared to go back to the drawing board. Meanwhile, there would arise two fronts on the struggle.

First, it became obvious that the papal Nuncio to Nigeria, Archbishop Kasujja had become terribly consumed by the efforts to impose Msgr. Okpalaeke on the people of Mbaise in spite of their rejection and resistance to the appointment. People believed quite strongly that he was calling the shots in the efforts to mobilize the security agencies to invade Ahiara Diocese on May 21. As the Nuncio’s fingers became much more visible in the rebellion of the Knights of St Mulumba in Ahiara Diocese against the cause, people believed that it was time he was made a fair game in the struggle. People were encouraged to probe his background and the numerous rumours swirling about the Nuncio’s relationships with some elements from Anambra State.

Some of the strongest rumours concerning the cosy relationship between the Nuncio and the people of Awka Diocese would detail how the bishop-elect as a priest of Awka Diocese had led a large contingent of Awka priests and lay people that travelled to far-away Uganda, the home country of the Nuncio, to help him bury his deceased mother. It was claimed that such relationships with the people of Awka Diocese had warmed the heart of the Nuncio and encouraged him to deliver the vacant Episcopal See of Ahiara Diocese to Msgr Okpalaeke. Another strand of the rumour claimed that the super-generous governor of Anambra State had built a mansion for the comfort of the Nuncio in his home country of Uganda. All these rumours, founded or unfounded, helped in no small way to stoke the anxiety of the priests and lay faithful of Ahiara Diocese and made them believe that the bishopric of their diocese had been sold to Awka politicians and businessmen fronting for Msgr. Okpalaeke.

Since the beginning of the resistance, a good number of the members of the Knights of St Mulumba [KSM] in Ahiara Diocese had taken to opposing the struggle. Unlike their counterparts of the Knights of St John International who reviewed the basis of the struggle and decided on neutrality as their strategy, the Knights of St. Mulumba chose to oppose the priests and the lay people who were piloting the struggle. They stated their opposition as based on their loyalty to the Holy Father. They declared that in as much as the pope had announced Msgr. Okpalaeke as the bishop-elect of Ahiara Diocese, they did not have any other option than to support him in loyalty to the Holy Father.

But of late it was discovered that the KSM as an organization was not just demonstrating their loyalty to the pope, or fighting for him as they had claimed, but rather were against the struggle mainly to preserve their personal friendship with the papal Nuncio. Since his arrival in Nigeria in 2010, the Nuncio had forged a strong personal friendship with the leader of KSM, Supreme Knight Anthony Onuh. They both were said to have travelled to Uganda together where the Nuncio had helped the supreme knight to visit some holy sites in his country. And through the steering of Mr. Anthony Onuh, the Knights of St Mulumba in Nigeria had become the pliable instrument in the hand of the Nuncio in his efforts to save face from the monumental error he had committed in the controversial bishopric appointment of Msgr. Okpalaeke for Ahiara Diocese. According to some of the knights, their members accepted to help because the Nuncio is a native of Uganda, the native country of St Mulumba whom the Knights of St Mulumba are named after.

But as the Knights of St Mulumba mobilized to save the Nuncio, both priests and the lay faithful of Ahiara Diocese decided to focus more pointedly on the role of the Nuncio in bringing about the crisis in the diocese. Once again Professor John Michael Adinuso of the United States of America would articulate the views of the people of Ahiara Diocese in an article that would be published on the email list of Professor Anthony Nwachukwu entitled

“Ahiara Diocese: What Happened?”

This article is being reproduced in its entirety here with the permission of Professor Anthony Nwachukwu.

Unanswered Qustions:

*Was the Nuncio pressured by some faceless powerbrokers from the Vatican?

*Was the Nuncio Bribed?

*Was the Episcopal Seat of Ahiara Diocese Sold?

*What was the Role of “The Awka Connection” in the Auctioning of Ahiara Episcopal See?

*Should Apostolic Nuncio be charged for corruption?

*Should Mbaise indigenes all over the world demand his resignation, removal and prosecution?

Since the breakout of the bishopric crisis in Ahiara Diocese, some questions have remained unanswered. We believe that it is time to begin unravelling what precipitated the crisis in Ahiara Diocese. Let some of the nagging questions be answered. There should be no sacred cows in the crisis that is rocking the traditionally peaceful Catholic Church of Ahiara Diocese. Something terribly bad happened there during the selection of the successor to the late Bishop Victor Chikwe. There should be no cover-up please! The Church that covers up crimes is not the Church of Our Lord Jesus Christ.

In the first meeting of the bishops of Owerri Ecclesiastical Province with the priests and lay people of Ahiara diocese, Archbishop AJV Obinna Obinna told Ahiara Diocesan clergy and lay people that the cardinal prefect for the Evangelization of Peoples, Fernando Cardinal Filoni, told him in confidence that topping the final list of three bishopric candidates for Mbaise was an Mbaise man. But when he was approached to become the bishop of Ahiara Diocese, he declined. And with the alleged refusal of an Mbaise indigene to assume the bishopric it was turned over to the second person on the list, Fr Peter Okpalaeke of Awka Diocese.

This was a stunning allegation that set Mabise people to work. The question was; who was that Mbaise priest who was approached and he refused? There were lots of consultations and questionings of the different individuals who were being pointed at as possible persons. But at the end of the day, the allegation turned out to be a very big lie.

As one of the revered traditional rulers of Mbaise said it on Monday, April 15, 2013, in Mater Ecclesiae Cathedral, what is coming out from the highest offices of the Catholic Church these days is nothing but lies. The Catholic Church which used to be the repository of truth is fast becoming in Ahiara Diocese at least a doyen of lies.

At the end of the day, it turned out that no Mbaise person was approached to become bishop and none declined. Cardinal Filoni told a very big lie. He is indeed part of the big cover-up that has become the hallmark of the crisis in Ahiara Diocese. Mbaise people should know that there is a big cover-up that is going on in the Ahiara Diocesan bishopric crisis. What all these individuals are doing is to continue covering up in order to save face. They are not Christians but corrupt people. They should not get away with it.

In that same meeting, one of the prominent lay men in the diocese put a very important question to Archbishop AJV Obinna. He asked him; “how did the name of Fr Peter Okpalaeke of Awka Diocese appear in the final list of Ahiara Diocese? Archbishop Obinna was very uncomfortable with the question. Finally he said that the final list is usually drawn by the Nuncio. In other words, it was the Apostolic Nuncio to Nigeria, His Excellency, Augustine Kasujja, who personally inserted the name of Fr Okpalaeke from faraway Awka Diocese into the final list of Ahiara Diocese. That is to say, it was Nuncio Kasujja who apparently gifted Okpalaeke with the bishopric of Ahiara Diocese.

But the question is why would he do this?

Some people have reported that the Nuncio said that he was under some enormous pressure from the Vatican? But who was pressuring the Nuncio from the Vatican? And why would such a pressure be mounted from the Vatican? Who is this mafia-like individual who dwells in the Holy Vatican City? Please, Holy Father, Pope Francis, find out those at the Vatican who have turned themselves into the services of the Italian mafia and are manipulating the bishopric situation in Nigeria. There is a faceless group of Nigerian interest gang that may be fully at work in manipulating the affairs of the Catholic Church in Nigeria. They may be receiving corrupt money for their services or they may be Nigerians who just want to put their cronies in strategic church leadership positions in Nigeria. Our Holy Father, Pope Francis, please fish them out and expel them from the Vatican.

But there is another angle to this: Was the Nuncio bribed?

In the last visit of the Nuncio to Ahiara Diocese, the same question was put to him by the priests of the diocese: how did the name of Okpalaeke from far away Awka get into the final list of the bishopric of Ahiara Diocese? The Nuncio deftly parried the question. He did not answer the question. He kept emphasising on the need for the people to obey the supreme pontiff. But that did not answer the question.

The Nuncio’s refusal to answer the question on how Fr Okpalaeke from faraway Awka suddenly appeared in the final list of Ahiara Diocese has given rise to some researches and digging around the papal Nuncio himself. And what is appearing is mindboggling. The Apostolic Nuncio to Nigeria might have been bribed. Is this unthinkable? Yes it is. But circumstances that are coming out tend to be supporting this allegation. The Nuncio might have sold the Episcopal Seat of Ahiara Diocese to the highest bidder. And those that bought it came from Awka through the agency of the powerful Awka Connection. But how did this happen?

A little digging around the Nuncio has revealed that in the numerous visits he had paid to Anambra State he was loaded with millions of Naira as donations from the “generous” Anambra State, Governor Peter Obi and many other “generous”individuals from Awka. This Nuncio appears to be swimming in millions of Naira and Dollar from the great millionaires from Anambra State.

It is also being alleged that the burial of the Nuncio’s late mother was paid for by the powerful Awka connection. It is being alleged that the powerful Awka connection is the kingmaker of bishops from Awka and the current Nuncio from the impoverished nation of Uganda has been bought completely by the gang.

The same connection facilitated the Nuncio’s trip to Okigwe Diocese where a powerful member of the connection, Bishop Solomon Amatu reigns supreme. The visit was some two years ago where he ordained a number of Okigwe priests. According to a little digging around the Nuncio, when he was leaving Okigwe after the visit, his sack was stuffed with millions of Naira courtesy of Bishop Amatu and the Awka Connection gang.

All these are trying to provide an answer to the all important question of how the name of Fr Okpalaeke made it into the final list of Ahiara Diocese. It appears that this name appeared top in Ahiara Diocesan list because of a combination of pressure from the powerbrokers at the Vatican and some home-grown corruptive gangs which compromised the Apostolic Nuncio to Nigeria.

The truth is this Nuncio from the impoverished nation of Uganda has a lot of questions to answer in what happened to the Episcopal Seat of Ahiara Diocese. Something terribly bad, something that is basically unchristian and totally unjust happened in the transaction that resulted in the bishopric of Ahiara Diocese being given to an unknown priest from Awka. It is not unspiritual to challenge the process that brought Fr Peter Okpalaeke to Ahiara Diocese. Rather it is a spiritual exercise to do so. This injustice must be challenged for the sake of Mother Church herself.

Our beautiful Catholic Church deserves the best. We must find out whether the little known Fr Peter Okpalaeke paid for the seat through his numerous agents from the powerful Awka connection. He is said to be known all through Anambra State for moving with the most powerful citizens and the richest of the highly corrupt Anambra society. How much did these people work for his emergence as the bishop-elect of Ahiara Diocese? And how much gratification if any did the Apostolic Nuncio receive to deliver the seat to him? All Mbaise journalists should go to work. This is a big challenge that must be unravelled. Fortunately, many Anambra people are talking. Talk to many of them and share with all of us. This is a time for action. We will never like what happened to Ahiara Diocese to happen to any other diocese in Nigeria.

Also, the Vatican should be advised to remove Archbishop Kasujja as Nuncio to Nigeria. They should stop posting these Nuncios from impoverished countries like Uganda to Nigeria. Nigeria is a cesspool of corruption. Chances are if you send people like Kasujja to Nigeria they will easily fall prey to the ploys of corrupt business men and women from places like Anambra State that are overflowing with corrupt cash.

Archbishop Kasujja should be investigated by his bosses from the Vatican. His hands are not clean in the crisis in Ahiara Diocese. He must be investigated for his role that precipitated the crisis. If he is not investigated, the Universal Catholic Church will lose a lot of credibility in Nigeria. Please investigate the activities of Archbishop Kasujja in Nigeria. Nothing less will do.

One of the highlights of this great moment of stress and tension in Ahiara Diocese and throughout the Catholic Church of Nigeria was the great efforts embarked upon by the new archbishop and metropolitan of Calabar Metropolitan See. Seeing that the crisis was gradually heading towards a major confrontation, Archbishop Joseph Ekuwem, who had just been appointed the archbishop of Calabar, abandoned preparations for his own installation and embarked on conciliatory visits to Ahiara Diocese. He would visit Ahiara Diocese on three Sundays in April. First on April 7, he came unannounced to visit the diocesan administrator, Msgr. Theo Nwalo at his Christ the King Parish, Oru, and talked with him on the need to find amicable solution to the crisis. After a brief discussion, the administrator took him to meet with the chief patron of the resistance, Msgr. Don Okoro [now late] in St Patrick’s Parish, Umuokirika Ekwerazu. The archbishop would agree to return to Ahiara Diocese the next Sunday to meet with a select number of priests from Ahiara Diocese.

On Sunday, April 14, 2013, Archbishop Ekuwem took all the pains to come down to the bishop’s house in Ahiara Diocese from his residence in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, where he met about ten priests of the diocese. Replaying what he said was the traditional way women of Efik and Anang areas of Akwa Ibom tried to mend fences with their estranged husbands, His Grace, Archbishop Ekuwem genuflected before every one of the priests present at that meeting. He made some passionate appeals for the brewing confrontation to be stepped down. He told the priests that the complaint of the priests of the diocese had been noted by the bishops of Nigeria and that such a problem would not be allowed to happen again in the Nigerian Catholic Church. According to the archbishop what was important was helping the Catholic Church in Nigeria come out of the crisis without losing further credibility. He revealed to the priests that the Nigerian bishops having reviewed the facts of the case were in agreement that if the bishop-elect was allowed to be ordained and installed in Ahiara Diocese and it did not work out between him and the people of Ahiara Diocese, Rome would be prevailed upon to transfer him to another diocese.

The response of the priests at the meeting was along the line of recognizing the great pains taken by Archbishop Ekuwem to try to mediate in the crisis and showing gratitude for his concern. But he was told that a lot of water had passed under the bridge; that Caesar had crossed the Rubicon in the case and that there would be no retreat. The priests representing the Presbyterium of Ahiara Diocese told Archbishop Ekuwem that the struggle could not be suspended without everybody losing credibility before the whole diocese. His Grace was told that a strong case against Msgr. Okpalaeke had already been made in Ahiara Diocese and that there was no way the diocese could take it back. The priests told Archbishop Ekuwem that if Msgr. Okpalaeke was allowed to assume the bishopric of Ahiara Diocese after the terrible crisis that had happened, there would be no peace in the diocese ever. The diocese, according to them, would degenerate into a perennial crisis all the days the bishop-elect would serve as her bishop. And this would only kill the Catholic faith in the diocese.

Most of the priests present expressed the fear that considering the level of bad blood that had been generated in the crisis there was no way the safety of Msgr. Okpalaeke as bishop of Ahiara Diocese could be ensured. They feared that some of the angry youths of the diocese might be tempted to inflict some bodily harm on him and that would result in the Catholic Church in Ahiara Diocese and throughout the nation having a terrible nightmare. They pleaded with the archbishop to help in persuading the bishops of Nigeria and the Nuncio that the potential bishopric of Msgr. Okpalaeke in Ahiara Diocese would create unmanageable problems for the Catholic Church of Nigeria.

Though the archbishop would push for some reconciliation and toleration of the bishop-elect in Ahiara Diocese, the meeting of the day would break up with the priests insisting that the diocese would not back down from her stance against the bishopric of Msgr. Okpalaeke. Archbishop Ekuwem would leave the meeting promising that he would initiate a formal dialogue between the diocese and the bishops of Nigeria. He asked the priests present if they would permit him to expand the meeting to include other bishops who had the interest of both the diocese and the Catholic Church at heart. He was told to go ahead and include as many bishops as he could convince to participate in the dialogue. The archbishop promised to come back in a due course to continue the conversation. And coming back he did a few times more only to meet the same resistance from the priests of Ahiara Diocese.