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| Late Bishop Victor Chikwe of Ahiara Diocese. |
As the crises rocking the Ahiara Mbaise
catholic diocese seems to end, the wife of the Vice Chancellor of the Nnamdi
Azikiwe University, Awka in Anambra state, Dr Mrs Gladys Ahaneku has called on
the people and priests of Mbaise to embrace peace and make room for dialogue
especially during the new year.
Dr Mrs Ahaneku who led a delegation
of Mbaise professionals to the president of the Ahiara Mbaise catholic priests
association, Rev Fr Austin Ekechukwu, said the crises rocking the diocese over
the choice of Fr Peter Okpaleke as the bishop of the diocese is a very
disturbing situation that could destroy a lot of things if not handled
properly.
She said the issue of marginalization
which the people of Mbaise say they are fighting against could be true but
urged them to sheath their swords and embrace dialogue for a quick solution to
be achieved.
Dr Mrs Ahaneku who also addressed the
seminarians of the diocese recently said she believes that a lot of people are
profiting from the crises and as such do not want peace to be achieved which
she said is fuelling and escalating the
crises.
She appealed to those fuelling the
crises through lies and rumour pedaling to desist from such and also appealed
to the people of Mbaise to pray for God to intervene in the matter.
In his reaction, Fr Ekechukwu,
thanked Dr Ahaneku and her team for their thoughtfulness which he said will afford them
the opportunity to hear the truth in the whole saga.
Fr Ekechukwu said that the Mbaises
are only fighting the great injustice and humiliation which was meted out to
them by the church leadership which was biased and influenced by Cardinal
Francis Arinze through Cardinal Filliony of the Vatican and Cardinal Cassuja
who is the papal Nuncio to Nigeria.
Fr Ekechukwu told them that issues
erupted when the name of Fr Okpaleke who is not of the Ahiara diocese emerged
as a bishopric nominee which he said angered the people of the area who questioned
the development.
He said the issue has been fuelled by
a few individuals namely Arch Bishop AJV Obinna, of the Owerri metropolitan
diocese where the Ahiara diocese falls under and Cardinal John Onaiyekan who
was appointed the administrator of Ahiara to make room for the appointment of
an acceptable bishop for the area and the Catholic Bishops council of Nigeria,
CBCN, who he said have been supporting and encouraging Fr Okpaleke and his
group.
He told them that the people and
priests of Mbaise have sworn to continue agitating until they are obliged with
an indigenous bishop like other dioceses and reminded the visitors that peace
can not be achieved without justice.
Fr Ekechukwu expressed disappointment
at Arch Bishop Obinna who he said tilts towards the pro Okpaleke faction for
reasons best known to him. He said it is unfortunate that Arch Bishop Obinna
has never deemed it fit to summon the priests of Ahiara since the death of
their bishop and since the issues erupted even as the metropolitan head of the
church in Owerri.
He emphasized that the time for
dialogue with Fr Okpaleke is gone since Fr Okpaleke refused to oblige them when
they requested for it and advised some traditional rulers in the area
especially Eze Desmond Oguguo who he said has no moral standing to speak for
the people of Mbaise on the Okpaleke issue to stop deceiving the people with
false publications as the people of
Ahiara are resolved to resist any attempt at subduing or marginalisisng them.
He however urged them to pray for God
to intervene and warned every one that is part of circulating falsehood that the appointment of
Fr Okpaleke has been endorsed by the Pope to be careful as the issue is now in
the court of His Holiness who is
presently better informed about the issues on ground more than his lieutenants have
hitherto told him.
By Ugo Great
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