By
Ikechukwu Amaechi
Let me say from the onset that I am very
distraught over the treatment meted out to the Catholic faithful in Ahiara
Diocese by Nigerian bishops. I am troubled because I am involved. The situation
in the diocese is the classical tinderbox in wait for a match. Why would
Nigerian bishops be the ones willing to spark the light?
I have resisted joining the fray, at least not
publicly, all these years because of two main reasons. First, I am aware that
in most faith-based issues, reason is a casualty and the Ahiara Bishopric saga
is no exception. Second, when it comes to Catholicism, I am old-fashioned, having
been brought up to believe that the clergy are God’s direct representatives on
earth who are beyond reproach. All things considered, that is illogical but as
Karl Marx would say, religion is an opium.
I am one of those Ahiara Catholic faithful who
Most Rev. Joseph Bagobiri, Bishop of Kafanchan, described as “the most
respectful religious group in Catholicism who view insults to the ordained and
consecrated as insult directed to God himself.” I am distraught because I am
involved. Ahiara is my diocese. I was born into Catholicism, initiated through
the sacrament of baptism 22 days after birth, received First Holy Communion ten
years later, was confirmed on February 26, 1984 and wedded in the church. I was
an “Altar Boy” while growing up. I will die a Catholic. |
| *Francis Cardinal Arinze |
I also know most of the clergy involved in this
crisis. Most Rev. Anthony Obinna, Archbishop of Owerri Metropolitan See, was my
lecturer just as Rev. Fr. Austin Bernadine Ekechukwu, who has been
mischievously labelled chief rebel, was my secondary school teacher. So strong
was the bond of relationship Fr. Ekechukwu and I forged while he was our parish
priest in the 1980s and thereafter that he cut short his vacation in the U.S. 2002
in order to officiate at my wedding.
I am distraught because some of these men of
God, devoted messengers in the vineyard, are being demonised just for raising
their voice against injustice in the Nigerian Catholic family. The story of the
Ahiara Bishopric saga is fairly known and needs no further chronicling. Suffice
it to say that the crisis ensued with the appointment of Bishop Peter Okpalaeke
as the second bishop of Ahiara to succeed late Bishop Victor Chikwe.
Unfortunately, five years after his appointment, Okpalaeke has not been able to
take canonical possession of the diocese because the people believe that the
process that threw him up was rigged and did not follow due process. And for
five years, the Catholic faithful in the diocese, as punishment, have been
denied every Episcopal service.
In seeking a solution to this needless crisis,
Nigerian bishops have not denied that the process was rigged but even when they
acknowledge that the people were shortchanged, they insist on “obedience.” In
doing so, they have been so high-handed with some hinting at the suppression of
the local church as the ultimate punishment. For five years, the Nigerian
bishops were united in the pursuit of this vendetta, or so it seemed, until
Bishop Bagobiri publicly broke ranks with his colleagues in a public statement
on Friday, December 1, 2017.
Titled, “Give
Ahiara a Bishop Close to or Who Understands Them: Exploring a Home Grown Response
to the Ahiara Saga,” the Kafanchan Bishop wrote: “The crisis that ensued
with the appointment of Bishop Peter Okpalaeke as the second bishop of the
diocese of Ahiara to succeed late Bishop Victor Chikwe has lingered on for
about five years. All this could have been avoided or resolved long ago if the
CBCN had been courageous enough to follow the path of truth and justice, by
listening to the aggrieved party and presenting their case positively or in an
empathetic manner as a united force to Rome
“When we were one year into this crisis, to be
precise, at the second plenary assemble that took place at Oturkpo, it was
advised that insisting on the option of commanding obedience from the Mbaise
faithful of Ahiara diocese as against seeking to constructively engage them in
dialogue with a view to striking some fair and reasonable compromises as was
the case with Warri Diocese will not solve this problem.”
Bishop Bagobiri then went ahead to tell his
colleagues some home truths, challenging some of the noxious orthodoxy upon
which they claim to have predicated their actions. Priests are trained to
question whatever is done wrongly and not according to due canonical process,
rather than submitting to blind obedience in the face of perceived breach of
the normative and standard manner of doing things, he reminded his colleagues.
“The people of Ahiara feel shortchanged by a
process of selecting a bishop for their diocese that excluded or denied them
their right to exercise a consultative vote on the discernment process … Questioning
an anomaly of this nature does not make them rebels or a disobedient lot.”
He called for an end to the wilful demonization
of the people insisting that they are “the most respectful religious group in
Catholicism who view insults to the ordained and consecrated as insult directed
to God himself.”
On the issue of not finding one priest from the
diocese worthy of being a bishop, Bagobiri said it was a heresy, literally. “To
say that out of a vibrant presbyterium of over 500 priests you are unable to
find one good priest to be appointed Chief Shepherd, is not only an insult but
a strong indictment on the formation given in our seminaries.”
Rather than address the issues raised by Bishop
Bagobiri, the CBCN in a letter dated December 5, 2017 and signed by Most Rev.
Ignatius Kaigama, Archbishop of Jos, and CBCN President, and Most Rev.
Augustine Obiora Akubueze, Archbishop of Benin City and Vice President,
Nigerian bishops accused their colleague of disobedience to Pope Francis, who
they claimed “had taken a definitive position on the matter” months ago. And
just as they have been blackmailing Mbaise clergy for insisting that the right
thing be done, they threw Bagobiri under the bus.
“We demand, in the name of the CBCN, that you
immediately issue another statement through the public media withdrawing in its
entirety your earlier statement and apologising to the Holy Father, the CBCN,
Bishop Peter Okpaleke, and the People of God in Ahiara Diocese for the damage
your statement is already doing.”
The Kafanchan bishop has massaged their ego. In
another letter on Tuesday, December 12, he humoured them by apologising. “As
regards the letter signed by Archbishops Kaigama and Akubueze asking for
apology on behalf of the CBCN, we must know what I am being asked to apologize
for. If my simple request for a review of strategy since the one adopted four
years ago has not yielded the desired result amounts to disobedience to the
Holy Father, then I am sorry and deeply regret this.”
But he insisted on his demand. “We should
change strategy from one that demands unquestionable obedience from a people
who feel shortchanged in the process of appointing their Chief Shepherd, to
that of constructive engagement.”
The questions that are concentrating the minds
of many discerning Catholics are legion; why are Nigerian bishops against
dialogue in resolving this matter that is taking unbearable toll on the people?
Why would a group vehemently oppose a suggestion by anybody that a
five-year-old dispute be resolved “through a dialogue that will allow for a
give-and-take spirit?”
Is there more to this crisis than meets the
eye? Why all the anger and bitterness? Why are Nigerian bishops punishing the
Mbaise Catholic faithful unduly? Why are they portraying victims of their
highhandedness as villains?
What informs their hubris? Should arrogance be
an attribute of Princes of the Church? Yes, Nigeria Church God
Surely, a higher standard of conduct is
expected of the shepherds of God’s flock. This tyranny of the Catholic Bishops
Conference of Nigeria (CBCN) is ill-advised. It is self-defeatist. It is time
to change course.
*Ikechukwu
Amaechi is the Managing Director/Editor-in-Chief, TheNiche on Sunday newspaper,
Ikeja, Lagos
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