By emeka okoro- 08082230275
His Grace, Archbishop Adewale Martins! I salute you as one of the high priests of our nation! You are the Archbishop of Lagos Archdiocese, a great son of the Yoruba nation, and the newly crowned Metropolitan of Lagos Ecclesiastical Province. In addition, you are also the secretary of the National Episcopal Conference of Nigeria. This shows that you are a person of high repute a“timber and caliber.”As a result, I hold you in high esteem. Hence, I have no intention of disrespecting you, other than to respond to the interview you gave to the Guardian Newspaper publication of Friday, June 14th 2013 on the occasion of your 54th birthday celebration. First of all, congratulations! We share in your joy. Nonetheless, I am writing because misrepresentations not corrected could have the semblance of truth.
Before I begin, I wish to point out that the crisis in Mbaise deals with the problem of injustice hinging on favoritism and cronyism in the Catholic Church in Nigeria. It is a situation where Awka Diocese now has FIVE BISHOPS, while Ahiara Diocese, Mbaise that you are castigating has NONE. Is it now a new thing in the Catholic Church in Nigeria for victims to be chastised? I have asked this question because you were castigating those who are crying and begging for justice and fairness in the Church.
Please, Your Grace, in your new Episcopal arithmetic, tell us: Is 5 = 0?This is because Awka has five bishops, while Mbaise has none.Onitsha Ecclesiastical Province has fifteen bishops with origin there, while Owerri Ecclesiastical Province has four bishops. Now, in your Episcopal arithmetic, tell us: Is 15 = 4? With this basic math, you ignored the fundamental issue of justice central to the whole crisis.In fact, with the biblical principle of “blessed are the peacemakers,” the interviewer profoundly asked you:
The Catholic Diocese of Ahiara in Mbaise, Imo State has been in crisis for some time now over the appointment of a new Bishop for the diocese. What is the church doing to restore peace?
This was a perfect question involving the way forward, but you chose the path backward as if you were the apostle of stalemate and logjam. The questioner was futuristic in his question, but you were backpedalling. In my view, this offered you a wonderful opportunity to become the “father of the nation,” but you missed this golden chance to educate the world and the Nigerian Catholics. It seems that you have forgotten that a similar complaint about unfairness was also a complaint in the Acts of the Apostles. There, the church leaders did not denounce the complainants in Acts 6:1-6. This was amicably remedied, and the church grew (Acts 6:7). Is it too late to imitate this?
In your interview, you began answering the Ahiara question in these words: “The objections over the appointment of the new bishop of the diocese were carried too far by some men and women of the diocese.” By the way, you said “some men and women.” Here you go again. Some men? We thought that you went to see the priests ofAhiara Diocese, or would you be happy if I refer to you as that man from Lagos? Don’t you see that respect begets respect? We thought that you were sent to Mbaise to see the priests? How is it now that you are talking about “some men and women?” Do you now see that you were either derogatory, or it was a calculated means on your side to demean the Mbaise priests?
When you went to Mbaise, were you an objective or impartial observer? We thought that you went there as an impartial referee, but now you are revealing your true self.Why were you shying away from the Canon Law of the Church? Mbaise has repeatedly shown that the Canon Law is on her side, which is true, but you have quoted none. As Prof. Amadi-Azuogu has repeatedly insisted, have you forgotten that there is such a thing as canon 382? And as we now know, how does what you said advance the salvation of the souls stated in the last canon of the Canon Law? Further, you gave the reason for your “some men and women” in these words:
I said some because from time to time I receive calls and even visits from people who say that they are from there and that they are ashamed of what is happening. There are many people who have said that. But unfortunately, these dissenting voices are usually not the loud ones; they are not usually very much heard.
Look how derogatory you were. The priests are referred to as “some men” and now the Nation of Mbaiseis simply referred to as “there,” without a name.Your Grace, So any idiot or fool can call you on the telephone or walk up to you on the street and tell you that he is from “there,”no matter whatever“there” means, and you immediately conclude that the person is from Mbaise? Wow!!What a poor logic!
Your Grace, the truth is that you visited Ahiara Diocese in May this year to learnwhyAhiara priests and laity rejected the now Titular Bishop Okpalaeke. You were in the company of Cardinal John Onaiyekan of Abuja Archdiocese, Archbishop Ekuwem of Calabar and Archbishop Ignatius Kaigama of Jos, the President of CBCN. As you may recall, those you refer to as “some men” were the Ahiara priests, whoturned out in numbers over 95% to speak with your delegation. How come that you are now misleading the Nigerian populaceinto believing thatthere were just a few of them?Or does 95 percent rejection mean a few in your new arithmetical world? These priests used this opportunity to tell your delegation that they suspect that due process as established by the Canon Law was not followed in this appointment and requested you to investigate the charge. As you may recall, during this meeting, you did not utter a word.Your Grace, rememberthat “truth draws strength from itself, not from the amount of consent it arouses” (Pope Benedict XVI). In fact, as Prof. Amadi-Azuogu pointed out, the truth is that Okpaleke was rejected because he is the product of the immoral system of “man-know-man in the Church.”Indeed, Bishop Okpalaeke is now the Titular Bishopof Ekwulobia. We cannot stop him nor argue with that. However, he cannot be the Bishop of Ahiara Diocese, Mbaise.
But wait a minute! Why is anyone pretending as if there is no corruption in the appointment of bishops in Nigeria, which has blown wide open in Mbaise? Benin is still fresh in our memories. Do you pretend as if there is no such a thing as VatiLeaks? Do you also pretend as if Pope Benedict XVI did not investigate it with surprising confirmations? And now, for the avoidance of doubt, hear Pope Francis in his own words:
“Yes, it is difficult. In the curia there are holy people, truly holy people. But there is also a current of corruption, also there is, it is true… they speak of a ‘Gay Lobby’ and that is true, it is there..we will have to see what we can do…”(http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/06/11/pope-francis-gay-lobby_n_3420244.html).
Did you hear the Pope? This is also what we are saying. Consequently, borrowing the words of the Pope, I say to you: within the Nigerian Catholic hierarchy there are holy people, truly holy people. However there arealso current of corruption. Don’t you think so? We are on the same page with the Pope.The corruption involving the appointment of Bishop Peter Okpalaekeis now our own version of VatiLeaks. It is now NuncioLeak. You have to investigate this, if you have good conscience. Don’t pretend that mistakes were not made. Don’t pretend that there was no manipulation of the process. Don’t pretend that you have not heard the rumor that Fr. Okpalaekeled the delegation of Anambara priests that attended the burial of the Nuncio’s mother in Uganda. How many priests from Abeokuta attended? Don’t pretend that you do not know the fact that Okpalaeke is buying over people in Mbaise with money. Is this the way you secured the canonical possession of the Lagos Archdiocese? Are church offices now to be bought with money? Perhaps, this monetization of the canonical possession of Ahiara Diocese is what you meant when you said:
And that is why we continue to encourage people who have this opinion that is the correct one to also bring their opinions to the forefront and let others know that there is an alternative view to that which is being projected by those who are protesting.
If you do not see anything wrong with the process that produced Okpalaeke then you scare us as a custodian of morality and due process. Please, don’t fake ignorance. Our eyes are now open and we can ask questions. When they are evaded, it becomes more annoying because the time of taking the faithful for a ride is over. We can now open the Canon Law of the Church and ask serious questions. You can try to bend or ignore the law, but ultimately, the law of the Church will triumph. This is what we have learnt from Canon 382. You can see that we keep quoting the Canon Law in support of the Mbaise position. Have you ever quoted any? This means that a new era has dawned in the Nigerian Catholicism. Your effort to turn the clock of progress back will continue to meet brick wall after brick wall. History is already made in Mbaise and there is no going back because the law is with us. The Holy Spirit also speaks through the Mbaisepeople.
Finally, Let us continue to pray that through the powerful intercession of the Mother of the Church, the Father and the Son, will send down the Spirit to renew the face of the Nigeria Church and the image of God in us.
Remain Blessed!
