Rev Fr. Ekechukwu Austin Benedict 08028900287
The voice of the people they say is the voice of God, What caused the problem lingering in Ahiara Diocese? What wrong has Mbaise Nation committed by asking for an indigenous Bishop?
Ahiara Diocese is facing a serious challenge of having a legitimate substantive Bishop, Ahiara Diocesan Priests and Laity have agreed that it is better to pay a little for the consequences of resisting injustice, than to allow our people and place be subjected to injustice forever, which kills and frustrate ingenuity.
Mbaise is one of the most evangelized and Catholicized area in the Continent of Africa, with more than (Six-Hundred) 600 priests, over 800,000 (Eight hundred thousand) Catholic Parishioners, where about (Five Hundred Thousand) 500,000 are here at home, while the rest are in the Diaspora.
Mbaise Nation is a very peculiar area which comprises of farmers, traders who are mostly Catholic parishioners.
Mbaise still remains the power house of Catholicism in Nigeria, with the largest number of educated Priests in the whole of Nigeria; the greatest numbers of Ph.D holders in various fields, the first Priest to be made a professor in Nigeria hails from Ahiara Diocese, and the Diocese have also produced more first class candidates as Priests than any other area in the country.
The Catholic Church have continued to strive successfully in Mbaise which led to the creation of Ahiara Diocese in 1987, and was led by Late Bishop Chikwe a native of Mbaise who presided over the Diocese for 22 years and 10month, before his demise, he said that Ahiara is in good hands, this was in reference of the good priests he produced and are adjudged as amongst the best in the Continent of Africa, and by the Catholic Church Doctrine and procedures of enthroning new Bishop, Late Bishop Chikwe must have sent more than 21 names of people he judged worthy of being his successor in an event he is no more and never knew Okpaleke till death.
The processes of choosing a Bishop is not very clear from the Cannon law, but begins with a process from the clergy, their opinion is sought, then what the bishop had written is taken into consideration from which the Bibiniccio will work out some names from the local clergy and send to Rome where one of them will be appointed as the Bishop of his people.
In Ahiara’s case, simply because the Bishop died, they neglected the process, and it became completely fraud, some of the Church authorities said that the people of Ahiara Diocese disqualified themselves through the series of petitions written and several statements they made that were not true, they framed up various excuses so as to import a pre-ordained person selected from Awka, when we have over 600 priests, is it conceivable that none of them can become the Bishop of Ahiara Diocese.
Where Bishops are transferred, it is usually a case where the people do not have qualified man power needed for the job. Adjudging over 600priests who are natives of Ahiara Diocese (Mbaise) to be un-qualified as Bishops only discredits their morale and the creditability of our people and it is unacceptable.
We want somebody from amongst us. why should there be a gross neglect of all the credible statistics abundant in Ahiara Diocese hiding under the guise that “The Pope Said So” when the Pope have not been duly informed about the people (Mbaise), it is only natural to cry-out for justice when things said about our people are un-true.
What confuses most people is that Ahiara Diocese said they wanted a son of the soil installed as Bishop, which is in this case not true; Ahiara Diocese needs someone who was incardinated in the Diocese or has been working for the Diocese irrespective of where he hails from, by so doing he automatically becomes acceptable and indigenous, following the nature of things and how they operate in the Diocese, Ahiara Diocese have passed Evangelization period, as they are now producing Missionaries for other places based on its abundant man-power.
Since the death of Late Bishop Chikwe till date there have been no seating Bishop, the appointment of Rev. Fr. Peter Okpaleke from another Province who never knew the Ahiara Diocese nor have any relationship with the Diocese throughout his life time until now contradicts natural justice, and the Pope cannot knowingly acknowledge what is unjust, because from all indications, perhaps he must have been misled into regarding Ahiara Diocese as not having competent people to be appointed as Bishops.
We are not disobeying the Pope; rather we want the Pope to have a clearer picture about Ahiara Diocese, as Ahiara Diocese is not being presented in its true light in Rome, because we have no a Cardinal, a Bishop or an Archbishop, a lot of appeals have been sent to Pope Francis in Rome for an emissary to come down to see the quality of Priests we have in Ahaira Diocese.
The Pope has made it clear that a Bishop should be given to Ahiara amongst them, yet Okpaleke is being imposed on us, the priests and people of Ahiara Diocese have totally rejected him.
Allow Mbaise to keep on producing the best Priests it has been known for, with its huge number of Seminarian who are rare indigenes of Mbaise, with few people from other Province/Diocese,
The reasons behind transporting three different Bishops from Awka in Anambra State to Okigwe, Aba, the failed attempt in Ahiara Diocese and some other places in the country like; Benin and Minna, Niger State have not yet been ascertained, as none in their Parish are outsiders.
During this campaign, due to the condition of Ahiara and Okpaleke saga, Enugu, Nsuka, Nnewi, Akwa and the rest were all given an indigenous Bishops.
Those who thought they could politically manipulate things, even in the Church should have considered Awka, a place that is not as large as Mbaise in size and number of Priests before importing Okpaleke to Ahiara, may be because Ahiara Diocese do not have a Cardinal, a Bishop or an Archbishop alike might have caused the delay for two years trailing the third in appointing a new Bishop for Ahiara Diocese which in a bid to frustrate the Diocesan Priests and Lay people of the Diocese, the idea of bringing someone from Awka to be installed as the Bishop of Ahiara Diocese makes it more vehemently unacceptable.
Whoever feels he has the divine right for appointing Bishops, appointed different people from the same area in Awka, Anambra State where Okpaleke hails from, has also appointed another as an auxiliary Bishop from his home town, what then is wrong in appointing an Indigene of Ahiara as our Bishop.
The problem between Ahiara Diocese and Bishop Okpaleke has extended its ugly head to Seminarians from the Diocese, the Cardinal that came to oversee the situations of the Diocese refused to perform his Pastoral/Sacramental function (Ordination, Confirmation, first Holy Communion), he punished the people by depriving them of the rights and privileges so that the Diocese will submit to the injustice melted on them, because of the rejection of one person imposed on them.
The Priests in the Diocese and the Laity have continued to carry-out their Pastoral activities the way it should, but other Pastoral duties meant for the Bishop are suffering, as the Cardinal who was sent to Ahiara Diocese refused to Ordain Seminarians also he failed to administer the Sacrament of Confirmation plus other Sacramental duties.
Trailing the Ordination of Bishop Okpaleke, at the Seat Of wisdom Seminary in Ulakwo, Mbaise people in allegiance had rejected Okpaleke from becoming the Bishop of Ahiara Diocese which prompted the Bishop Council of Nigeria to shift the venue of the Ordination ceremony to Ulakwo that made a whole non-sense of the Ordination process, he was Ordained outside his Diocese, therefore, following the Canonical inscriptions Okpaleke belongs to Ulakwo because he read his Papal Bull at Ulakwo and not at Ahiara Diocese.
The Cannon Law further stipulates that any person/candidate appointed as the Bishop of a Diocese, and is unable to take possession of the Diocese assigned to him within 4months of his appointment, will be totally impeded.
In Okpalekes case, he was Consecrated Bishop at the Seat of Wisdom Seminary in Ulakwo on the 20th of May 2013, till date June 2014, which is over 13months (thirteen months), following the Canonical law Okpaleke has lost Ahiara Diocese that is why an Apostolic administrator was assigned to the Diocese.
In other words, the solution and way out of this crisis is for those Catholic authorities that are vested with the responsibility of appointing Bishops to declare/pronounce Ahiara Diocese vacant for a new process to begin, Bishop Okpaleke who has been ordained should remain where he is “it is better for one person to suffer than a whole Nation of Mbaise to suffer”.
