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| Ahiara diocese: It is too late for dialogue…… Fr Ekechukwu |
The
president of the Ahiara Mbaise catholic priests association, Rev Fr Austin
Ekechukwu has restated that it is unfortunately too late for dialogue or even a
possible acceptance of Fr Peter Okpaleke as the bishop of the diocese.
Fr
Ekechukwu stated this in the aftermath of the meeting between the provincial
bishops of the Owerri catholic province and the priests of Ahiara Mbaise
catholic diocese recently at the instance of the former.
Fr
Ekechukwu said it is sad that the metropolitan bishop of Owerri archdiocese,
Arch bishop AJV Obinna has not deemed it necessary to summon the priests of
Ahiara diocese since the crises erupted in the area at least to hear from them
till now.
He
added that Archbishop Obinna further added salt to injury when he failed to
push for the ordination of priests and deacons of the area who have qualified
for over three years now thereby leaving a backlog of over three sets which he
said is a calculated attempt to frustrate the young seminarians into rebelling
against their priests and the people of Mbaise in general.
He
also blamed Archbishop Obinna for failing to attend the funeral service of some
priest in the diocese even as the head of the church in the Owerri archdiocese
and for also failing to celebrate masses occasionally for the people of Mbaise, which he said made him unpopular in Mbaise as the people now see him as an
accomplice to the Anti-Mbaise agenda that seeks to impose Fr Okpaleke on the people
of the area.
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| Fr Austin Ekechukwu |
He
wondered why Arch Bishop Obinna decided
to meet with the Ahiara priests immediately after the Pope who was not properly
informed about the matter by Cardinal Arinze and his friends at the Vatican
sent a special envoy to investigate and properly brief him on the Ahiara issue.
Fr
Ekechukwu further said that the plea of Obinna and the other provincial bishops
for the people of Mbaise to accept Okpaleke has been overtaken by events as the
matter is now on the table of the Pope who his pronouncement on the matter is
being awaited.
He insisted that the Mbaises are not
disobeying the Pope as alleged by fighting against the injustice meted out to
them insisting that it is rather Cardinal Arinze and cohorts who for their own
personal reasons are disobeying the Pope by refusing to heed to the Pope’s
emphasis on the appointment of locals and indigenes for bishopric appointments
for their dioceses as witnessed in other dioceses after even the Ahiara issue
erupted.
Fr
Ekechukwu insisted that Obinna has a lot of explanations to make as regards
certain statements that were credited to him which includes that he was
dribbled over, that his hands are tied and that he wants to save his neck all
of which he said suggest that he has compromised and has also sold out Ahiara
diocese to Arinze and cohorts.
Fr
Ekechukwu who querried the desperation of Fr Okpaleke and his supporters further
said that it is unfortunate that Fr Okpaleke and his supporters resorted to
bribing and intimidating people to be appointed or even accepted as a bishop in
Mbaise, which he said makes their intentions and agenda very questionable
insisting that the Okpaleke issue is a closed chapter as long as the people of
Mbaise are concerned.
It
will be recalled that ArchBishop Obinna and the other Provincial bishops of the
area recently convened a meeting between themselves and the priests of Ahiara
diocese for the first time since the issue erupted in the diocese to beg them
to accept Fr Okpaleke as their bishop.
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