AHIARA DIOCESE IN CROSSHAIRS: THE REAL STORIES …41 [EXCERPTS FROM A BOOK IN PRINT]

Chapter 16: A Perfect Anti-climax [ii]

Sunday, May 19, 2013, was relatively quiet as compared to the previous ones when a lot of energy had been spent in the Masses educating and informing the lay faithful on the bishopric crisis in Ahiara Diocese. This Sunday would be more of a wait-and-see Sunday. All through Ahiara Diocese there would be that wary attitude to see whether the Nigerian bishops meant what they said when they announced that they had relocated the ordination to Seat of Wisdom Seminary, Ulakwo. There was also that anxiety whether Tuesday, May 21, could peacefully pass in Ahiara Diocese without any violent incident concerning the bishopric crisis.

On the eve of the ordination, Monday, May 20, activities picked up speed in all fronts around Ahiara Diocese. According to stories from our colleagues in Owerri Archdiocese, that Monday evening, it was learned that the bishop-elect might want to spend a night with Archbishop Obinna. The priests considered it a contravention of their agreement that the bishop-elect be confined to the neutral ground that had been ceded for his ordination. They quickly sent a message to His Grace, Archbishop Obinna reminding him of their agreement that the bishop-elect should not spend a night in any facility in Owerri province other than the facilities in the seminary. This necessitated a hurried arrangement made with the rector of Seat of Wisdom Seminary, Fr Uzochukwu Jude Njoku, who quickly prepared a room for the bishop-elect to lodge. Around 9.00 p.m. that Monday night, the new bishop was transported to Seat of Wisdom Seminary where he would spend the night before his ordination.

Back home in Ahiara Diocese, the evening of Monday would be spent making sure that everything was in place for the big prayer rally in front of the Cathedral on Tuesday morning. The youths who were running on their own had their own plans which they did not share with the members of the Caucus. Around dawn in the morning of Tuesday, May 21, many different groups of the youths took over the parish gates of all the pro-Okpalaeke priests thereby imprisoning some of them in their respective parish compounds. Some groups of the youths took over the podium of St Brigid to make sure that no bus left from there to the ordination venue. Youths from the various parishes and deaneries blocked access roads to and fro Mbaise land searching all vehicles and making sure that nobody went to the ordination from or through Mbaise territory as they had earlier agreed. The entire Mbaise land was in a lockdown mode.

In some parishes like Immaculate Conception Church Enyiogugu, some unfortunate incidents would take place. The Oboama village in the larger Enyiogugu community had made its own the refusal of the entire Enyiogugu community to relinquish Enyiogugu Secondary School to the Catholic Diocese of Ahiara as the government of Imo State had ordered when it returned some seized mission schools back to their original owners. Enyiogugu Community had vowed not to relinquish their community school to the diocese even though all documents regarding the establishment of the school testified that it was from the beginning a church-owned Catholic Secondary School.

The Oboama village on whose land Enyiogugu Secondary School is located vowed never to let the school be run by the Church. So when the bishopric crisis erupted in Ahiara Diocese, the village as a whole decided that it would be an opportune time to get even with the priests and the authorities of Ahiara Diocese by aligning with the pro-Okpalaeke group. On that Tuesday, May 21, ordination, the community made preparation to attend the ordination ceremony against the wishes of the youths of Ahiara Diocese. In fact, it would be alleged that they equally made preparation to hold a mini-reception for the new bishop in their parish church. When the youths of Ahiara Diocese learned of their plans and having been told that the entire community was gathered in their church to execute their plan, some of the youths went there and stormed the place leading to all sorts of battles and destruction of some property both of the diocese and the parish.

As early as 7.00 a.m. that Tuesday morning, the Maria Mater Ecclesiae Cathedral area was flooded by a sea of heads. Mbaise Catholics thronged the area and blocked off completely the gate leading into the Cathedral compound. Black clad youths fanned out throughout the Ahiara junction and St Brigid’s Church areas chanting war songs. Christian mothers and Fathers wearing black attires poured into the Cathedral area praying the rosary. The scene was eerily solemn and touchy. The Catholic Church in Mbaise appeared to have been thrown back into the mourning of their late bishop once again.

At the venue of the ordination in Seat of Wisdom Seminary, Ulakwo, a similar scene was seen. At dawn military tanks took positions in strategic areas of the town. Gun-toting police officers filled up every space around the seminary compound. A large number of priests from Awka Diocese, guests from the home diocese of the bishop elect, Awka Diocese and Anambra State in general, members of the Knights of St Mulumba, some traditional rulers from Mbaise, some pro-Okpalaeke supporters from Nnarambia Ahiara community and many other people from across Igboland filled up the chapel of Seat of Wisdom Seminary Ulakwo Owerri awaiting the stroke of ten o’clock for the ordination to start. The chief celebrant and consecrator of the new bishop was the metropolitan archbishop of Owerri, Most Rev. Anthony J.V. Obinna. The homilist was Most Rev. Lucius Iwejuru Ugorji of Umuahia Diocese.

In his homily on the occasion, Bishop Ugorji thanked the missionaries that brought the Catholic faith to Mbaiseland, the pioneer Mbaise citizens that welcomed the missionaries and the Catholic faith, and all those who contributed to the handing on of the faith till the present generations of Catholics in Mbaise land. He paid glowing tribute to the pioneer bishop of the diocese, Most Rev Victor Adibe Chikwe of blessed memory. He remarked,

On this auspicious occasion we pay tribute to him for his strenuous labours to build up the young Church in Ahiara Diocese to an enviable state. This great Pastor of souls worked assiduously with unflagging zeal to ensure the continuous growth of the largely rural Diocese of Ahiara. Under his able and dynamic leadership, Ahiara Diocese now counts 73 parishes as against 18 at its creation in 1987. It pleased the Almighty and merciful Father to call him to his eternal reward on 16th September, 2010. May his gentle and noble soul rest in perfect peace! May his labours in Ahiara Diocese not be in vain!

Reflecting on the crisis that had dogged the appointment of Msgr. Peter Okpalaeke as the bishop of Ahiara Diocese, Bishop Ugorji said among other things,

The secrecy in the process of electing Bishops may give people the room to suspect or to allege manipulations of the electoral process. Considering the unsubstantiated allegations that are presently tearing some communities apart, it must be said loud and clear that no Cardinal, Archbishop or Bishop; no Episcopal Conference, whether national or provincial, can appoint a Bishop. It is the Holy Father who has the final say in the appointment and posting of Bishops in the Catholic Church. Following the procedures laid down in Church law, he freely appoints a suitable Catholic priest, after proper discernment, mature deliberation and prayer. We should keep in mind that Church Law does not provide for “quota system” or consideration for “place of origin” in the appointment of Bishops. However, given the strong ethnic sensitivities in certain areas, and considering that Church unity, which does not necessarily imply uniformity, gives room for diversity, some respectable persons are of the opinion that a process that takes into consideration the principles of “equity”, “fairness” and “balancing” in episcopal appointments may be a way of giving a sense of belonging to a people in a particular situation and forestalling agitation.

In his address after his Episcopal ordination, the new bishop, Most Rev Peter Ebere Okpalaeke, noted that in spite of the crisis that had been raging as a result of his appointment he was at peace with himself.

I am confident and hopeful. I put my faith in God who knows how to make all things, including our hearts, new (Rev. 21:5). Providentially,­ this ordination is taking place two days after Pentecost and at the Seat of Wisdom Seminary. I believe that God wants us to begin our Episcopal ministry 'at a time when we, as individual Christians and as Church, are experiencing a fresh outpouring of the Holy Spirit.

…before my conversation with the Nuncio, I had asked myself why it was taking so long to appoint a bishop to the See of Ahiara. News were [sic] flying around and I had heard many stories, founded or unfounded, about what was going on.

My ordination today is a celebration of my marriage to the Church of God in Ahiara. Just like wives married into your families, I have left my people and have become onye Ahiara Diocese. I remember a piece of music by the monks of Weston Priory in the State of Vermont USA which I love so much. The monks set into song Ruth's response to Naomi: "wherever you go, I shall go, wherever you live, I shall live. Your people will be my people, and your God will be my God. Wherever you die, I shall die and there I shall be buried." (Ruth 1:16).

I know, for certain, that at the end of my earthly life, if it is God's will, my bones will rest n'ala Mbaise. So, as the turbulence raged, I used the time to educate myself more about my people, our great history – pre-colonial, colonial and post-colonial, the teeming Catholic population, the enormous manpower resource in the general populace and among the clergy - diocesan as well as religious - and the many consecrated men and women working in many parts of Nigeria, Africa and the world at large. Our people are the greatest witnesses to the universality of the Church. Our sons and daughters are found almost everywhere working as priests and religious men and women and our lay faithful carry Catholicism with them wherever they are.

In the light of the above, I understand the anger and frustration generated by my appointment in some sections of the Diocesan family as fuelled by the undeniable fact of the enormous pool and quality of manpower that we have in Ahiara Diocese and in our sons in the religious congregations. Other sons of ours, especially from outside the diocese, however tapped into this initial and understandable frustration and went on a rhetorical over-drive. They spread a lot of stories and negative propaganda to cause confusion and misunderstanding­ among our peaceful people. Be that as it may, we stand to learn from every event.

The ordination of Most Rev Peter Okpalaeke in the Chapel of Seat of Wisdom Seminary, Ulakwo Owerri, though anticlimactic in every sense of the word, did go as planned. The bishops from all over Nigeria, the guests and the new bishop himself all left the arena in peace without any remarkably unfortunate incidents. Everybody took consolation in the fact that the ceremony had passed without any crisis that could have potentially resulted in losses of lives and property.

However, back home in Ahiara Diocese, the youths who had been acting on their own for some time decided to hatch other scary plans. They stormed the homes of some priests of Ahiara Diocese who had participated in the ordination ceremony to molest them. Some of them laid ambush around the rectories of those priests waiting to attack them as they drove into their compound. What had saved the day was that about three of those priests did not return home to their parishes that evening. They stayed away for fear of being attacked by irate youths.

But one of them who ventured to return home to his parish that evening, Fr. Patrick Iwejuo of Annunciation Parish Umuchieze, Ihitteafoukwu, [now late] was ambushed by some of the youths at the entrance to his rectory and attacked. This would lead to a very big fight in which both the youths from the diocese and their counterparts from the parish fighting on behalf of their parish priests sustained some injuries. All these were happening without the knowledge of the members of the Caucus.

After his Episcopal ordination in the chapel of Seat of Wisdom Seminary, Ulakwo Owerri, on Tuesday, May 21, 2013, the new bishop, Most Rev Peter Ebere Okpalaeke hastily returned to his home parish of Amesi Aguata in Anambra State leaving behind his surrogates in Mbaise and among the knights of St Mulumba to continue the battle for his installation. The new bishop’s surrogates in Mbaise made up of some traditional rulers and a few priests would form a coalition working for what they had believed would be a quick installation of the new bishop in the diocese.

The traditional rulers in particular mainly consisting of the members of the Executive of Mbaise Traditional Rulers Association were dominated by Protestants and fallen Catholics who saw in the bishopric crisis in the diocese an opportunity for profit or to regain lost dignity and prestige in their respective communities and Mbaise land at large. The traditional rulers came from the group with the lowest reputation among the Mbaise traditional rulers. Most of them had come from the group whose previous professions had been less than stellar. They were the ones who were believed to have secured their traditional stool through dubious means during the reign of Achike Udenwa as governor of Imo State.

Moreover, there were strong rumours all over Mbaise land, which would not be refuted by any of them that the traditional rulers had collected large sums of money from the sponsors of the new bishop from Awka to help him realize his ambition to serve as bishop of Ahiara Diocese. It was said to the umpteenth time that the traditional rulers who were pushing for the installation of the new bishop were doing so to justify the amount of money they had collected as inducement from Awka business men and women who were bankrolling the activities of the new bishop. And considering the previous history and reputation of most of the traditional rulers involved, there was hardly any doubt among Mbaise priests and laity that they were not working for the new bishop for free. Nearly everybody in Mbaise believed that those traditional rulers fronting for the rejected bishop were bought and paid for by the Okparaeke supporters.

The activities of the traditional rulers and the priests working as their collaborators for the bishopric of Bishop Okpalaeke included buying up spaces and air times in local newspapers and radio stations where they continued to claim to have concluded arrangements to bring the new bishop home to Mbaise as the substantive bishop of Ahiara Diocese. Their efforts consisted in making noises of an imminent installation of Bishop Okpalaeke in Ahiara Diocese. But their boasts were hardly ever taken seriously by the priests and lay people of Ahiara Diocese who were basking in the euphoria that they had recorded an unassailable victory against the faction supporting the rejected bishop. The noises of the renegade traditional rulers, as they were labelled, would continue. But not many from Mbaise paid them any mind as most of the traditional rulers were not Catholics and the few who claimed to be Catholics were more or less nominal ones.

The joke that was often on the lips of both priests and lay faithful from Ahiara Diocese was that the people the new bishop preferred to work with for the realization of his bishopric mandate in Ahiara Diocese were all people who had some personal issues to grapple with in the Catholic Church. The priests who were acting as his surrogates were either those at the fringes of activities in Ahiara Diocese or those who had over the years lost favour with many people in the diocese. And such people were seeing the new bishop from Anambra State as one who obviously did not know much about their chequered antecedents as their opportunity to regain some credibility and relevance in the diocese.