CATHOLIC DIOCESE OF AHIARA, MBAISE

KNOW US AND LOVE US MORE

SOME IMPORTANT FACTS ABOUT CATHOLIC DIOCESE OF AHIARA, MBAISE:

[AN INFORMAL TALK TO THE CONFERENCE OF THE CATHOLIC LAITY COUNCIL OF NIGERIA, MEETING IN AHIARA DIOCESE, MARCH 6-8, 2020 ]

By
Rev Fr David Asonye Ihenacho, Ph.D.
[Episcopal Vicar for the Laity]
Ahiara Diocese

Ahiara Diocese:

“Catholic Diocese of Ahiara” is named after one of the five ancient clans of the territory now called Mbaise.
The clans or communities of the area are Ahiara, Ekwerazu, Ezinihitte, Abajah and Oke Ovoro.
Mbaise:
The name Mbaise was adopted in 1941 as a unifying name for the five original clans or communities in the territory which were merged into one county council by the British colonial administration in the late 1930s and early 1940s.

Origin of the People of Mbaise

The indigenous peoples of the territories that were aggregated as Mbaise do not consider themselves as itinerants, migrants, or, nomads into their present territories. They claim not to have any memory of their earliest ancestors migrating into their present territories from any other place. Rather the people of early Mbaise land regarded themselves as Nfunala, that is, people whose earliest ancestors sprouted from the earth – Ndi si n’ala puputa – people whose original forebears grew out of the belly of the earth like seeds.

Pre-Christian Myth of Origin

To buttress their claim of being nfunala people in the territory, many people point to their ancestors’ belief in a pre-Christian myth of origin celebrated in Ezinihitte clan till today known as Oji Ezinihitte. This myth which no longer claims any adherent in the highly Christianized Mbaise land of today states that the whole world was created at the beginning of time by a great deity called Chileke Oha [God the creator of all] at a market square called Orieukwu Oboama na Umunama.

The land and people of Mbaise:
The land and people of Mbaise first came into contact with the white people [both colonialists and missionaries] at the turn of the 20th century.

The initial contact between the early Mbaise people and the colonialists was made in 1902 when the construction of the present-day Owerri-Umuahia Road began.

The construction of this road then locally called “Douglas Road” was executed by the first District Commissioner of Owerri Province, H.M Douglas with the collaboration of the West African Frontier Force [WAFF].

The construction of Owerri-Umuahia Road which cut through the heart of early Mbaise communities was one of the roads the colonialists had needed for their military campaign against the Long Juju of Arochukwu, Ibini Ukpabi, whose priests and leaders were accused of persisting in the practice of slave trade that had been banned worldwide nearly a century earlier. The counterpart road to the road was the Owerri-Okpala-Owerri-Nta Road.

The old Owerri-Umuahia Road cut through Abajah [Enyiogugu and Nguru] into Ahiara via Nnarambia, Ogbe and Otulu, and finally, into Ezinihitte – via Onicha, Obizi and Udo. From these early Mbaise communities Douglas road crossed the Imo River into Umunwanwa, Ubakala and finally, to Umuahia.

Colonial Tragedy:

It was somewhere along this new road that a colonial physician called Dr Roger Stewart got missing between 1902 and 1904. After a thorough search by the colonial military officers and their collaborators, what could be found and recovered was the bicycle Dr Stewart was using to traverse the territory.

Consequences of Dr Stewart’s death

The missing and presumed death of Dr Stewart along the new road and in the territories of early Mbaise communities would change completely the history of many generations of Mbaise people afterwards.

Murderous Campaign

After searching in vain for their missing colleague and concluding that he was dead, H.M. Douglas and the officers of the WAFF launched a murderous war campaign against the peoples of the territories in January of 1905.

The campaign was tagged among the early Mbaise people as Douglas’s War [Ogu Udengalasi]. This war would cost so many lives and destroy lots of property among the people of early Mbaise. The greatest number of victims of the war campaign came from among the ordinary people that knew nothing about the fate of Dr Stewart.

Aftermath of Douglas’s Conquest of Early Mbaise

After the war campaign, DC Douglas and the WAFF stationed a military squadron at the heart of Abajah clan, in a place called Nkwogwu [not far from where this conference is holding]. The reason for the establishment of the Nkwogwu military squadron was for the soldiers to keep a wary eye on their so-called restive people of early Mbaise communities.

Meanwhile, a Panel of Inquiry on the disappearance and perhaps death of Dr Roger Stewart was instituted by the British Parliament in London. At the conclusion of its investigation, the panel and the British colonial administration declared the peoples of the early Mbaise territories as hardcore and unrepentant criminals. And that would become a badge of dishonor which colonial Britain left permanently on the reputation of Mbaise people.

This is the known origin of some of the stigmas you often hear repeated against the Mbaise people. The death of Dr Stewart in early Mbaise communities became Mbaise people’s “original sin.” As the saying goes; “our ancestors ate a sour grape and the teeth of their children have remained on edge till today.”

The Nkwogwu Court

With a squadron of WAFF permanently stationed at Nkwogwu, a colonial court like the one in place at Owerri was established at the place to take care of cases originating from the communities of the area which included the five communities that would be later aggregated together as Mbaise as well as Obowo, some parts of Mbano and Ngor Okpala.

More Colonial Tragedy

In 1929, the very powerful colonial court at Nkwogwu whose influence had gone far and near was razed to ashes by the rioting women of early Mbaise communities who were participating in the so-called Aba Women Riot of 1929. This situation would greatly anger the colonial administration in Owerri.

Scrapping of the Nkwogwu Court

As a response to its burning down, the famed Nkwogwu court was scrapped. And it was replaced with five brand new courts located at various spots in the five clans that made up early Mbaise: Ahiara Court [Obodo Ahiara]; Ekwerazu Court [Obohia]; Ezinihitte Court [Itu]; Abajah Court [Enyiogugu]; and Oke Ovoro Court [joined up with Okpala Court as well as some parts of Ezinihitte].

Phasing out of the Court System

Sometime in the late 1930s and early 1940s, the colonial government of Great Britain decided to gradually phase out the court system of administration and replace it with the county system. This would result in the consolidation of some community courts into counties. As a result, the five community courts in the territories of early Mbaise were consolidated into one county.

The term Mbaise was adopted as a unifying name for the five communities that had become one in the new county system of administration. And thus was born “Mbaise County Council”, which took off properly speaking in 1955 with its headquarters at Aboh Mbaise.

Catholicism in Mbaise land

The Catholic Church alongside many other Christian denominations arrived in the territories of early Mbaise land towards the end of the murderous war campaign of H.M. Douglas and WAFF. The missionaries immediately became the soothing and consoling agents for a very disconsolate people traumatized by a very brutal war.

The Catholic Church began to evangelize the people of the territory from 1914, some two years after settling at Mount Carmel Church in Emekuku in present-day Owerri Archdiocese.

The Catholic missionaries visited Abajah clan first in 1914 in the villages of Umuopara and Ogbor. But it was the great paramount ruler of Ahiara, Eze Pius Onyekwere who welcomed the Irish missionaries with open arms. He subsequently made a donation of a sizeable piece of property to them to settle near his home and in his community of Nnarambia.

The Catholic missionaries first settled in Ahiara from 1933. And from there Catholicism began to spread to all Mbaise land. It established in Ezinihitte in 1947 settling in Amumara Community. It went to Ekwerazu and Nguru in 1948 and settled in Umuokirika and Nguru Centre respectively. And, on and on, the Catholic Church began to capture the hearts and souls of the Mbaise people. And that was how the great romance and subsequent marriage between Mbaise people and the Catholic Church had begun. That union has been growing stronger ever since. And nothing can put asunder this marriage that was made in heaven!

The Catholic Church: Instant Success in Mbaise land

The Catholic Church became an instant success immediately it arrived in the territories of the Mbaise people. About six years after its arrival the then prefect apostolic, Rev Fr Joseph Shanahan CSSp, began, in 1918, to tout the gains of the Catholic Church in some communities in Igbo land including Enyiogugu, Nguru and Ahiara to his Cameroonian audience.

Rapid Growth of the Catholic Church in Mbaise land

The growth of the Catholic Church in the territories of Mbaise land during the time of the missionaries was so fast that by the eve of the civil war in 1966, Mbaise territory was boasting of ten parishes and almost one half of the population and parishes in the old Owerri Diocese. The population of Mbaise Catholics at that time was put at about 180,000 to 200,000, a phenomenal figure which was almost unheard-of in many territories in Africa with a far longer history of Catholic/Christian evangelization.

Quest for a diocese

As far back as December 1966, the Catholic Church in Mbaise land had grown so powerful and self-confident that her leaders approached the then bishop of Owerri Diocese, Most Rev Joseph Brendan Whelan CSSp and asked that the Mbaise territory be raised to the status of a diocese following closely behind the creation of dioceses for Umuahia and Port Harcourt. However, the civil war that broke out barely a year after this request was made scuttled the ambition of Mbaise Catholics and the clear willingness Bishop Whelan had shown to see it through.

Vocations in Mbaise Catholicism

Priestly and religious vocations have been a very special gift to the Catholic Church in Mbaise land. The first Catholic priest in Mbaise Msgr. Edward Ahaji Nwoga was ordained in 1945. He was a classmate and close associate of the late Bishop Anthony Gogo Nwedo CSSp. Fr Ahaji Nwoga hailed from Umuezue Umuokirika Ekwerazu.

The first religious sister in Mbaise land, the then Miss Christiana Nwaturuocha [late Mother Gertrude] from Umuanuma Nguru, entered the convent in the early 1930s. Mother Gertrude would become the first and founding Superior General of the Handmaids of the Holy Child Jesus Congregation [HHCJ].

The first Rev Brothers in Mbaise were Rev Brothers Nwogwugwu and Mbagwu of Umunama and Okpofe all in Ezinihitte.

These pioneer religious men and women would open the floodgates of priestly and religious vocations in Mbaise land.

Vocations Boom

The term “vocations boom” was actually invented in Mbaise land. Its first use is traceable to the late 1930s when about 30-plus young ladies groomed by the late Mother Mary Coleman and her Holy Rosary Sisters stationed at Ogbor Nguru opted to enter the new juniorate of the Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary Mother of Christ thereby defying their parents and would-be suitors who were lurking to pounce on them for marriage. That would be the first time such a good number of young women and even men would advert to religious life in a culture that prized marriage and family more than any other cultural values.

Today Mbaise land booms with vocations. According our informal census of 2012 during the centenary of the Catholic Church in Owerri Ecclesiastical Province, the number of Catholic priests from Mbaise land as of today working in various dioceses and congregations across the world is estimated to be between 800 to 900 in number. The religious women are estimated to be around 1500. This is a monumental feat in a place that has the smallest landmass for a diocese in Nigeria.

Mbaise seminarians and pre-novitiate religious men and women as well as novices today number in their thousands. The land of the Mbaise people has remained very fertile for the production of the manpower needed for evangelization in the Catholic Church throughout the world.

Mbaise Catholics and the Irish Missionaries
The Irish missionaries who brought the faith to many parts of Nigeria and especially to Igbo land were extremely satisfied with the quality of the Catholic faith they found among the people of Mbaise land. They often singled them out for praise.

Bishop Whelan, the bishop of the old Owerri Diocese often cited the example of faith commitment among the people of Mbaise. He usually described them as “my beloved people of Mbaise.”

Bishop Whelan’s love for the faith-commitment of the people would be eternally memorialized when he turned over the reins of the entire Owerri Diocese to the care of a young priest from Mbaise, Fr. Ignatius Nmereole Okoroanyanwu, on the eve of his arrest and deportation to Ireland in early January of 1970. Msgr. Okoroanyanwu, the vicar capitular, recruited the young Fr Theophilus Nwalo, another priest from Mbaise land as his secretary. And both of them rescued and preserved the war-battered Catholic Church in Owerri Diocese for the nine crucial months in early 1970 pending the appointment of the substantive bishop of the diocese in the person of Bishop Mark Unegbu.

The same scenario was replicated in Bigard Memorial Seminary that was taking refuge at Holy Ghost Fathers Novitiate at Awo Omamma. On the eve of their arrest, the Irish missionaries on the staff of the institution led by Fr John Daily, the rector, called up a young man in theology two at that time, Rev Mr. Paul Chinenyeze Amakiri, from Mbaise land, and handed over to him all the apparatus for the administration of the seminary, over and above an indigenous priest on the staff of the institution, and some other senior seminarians, who were higher in both classes and dignity than the second-year theologian seminarian.

Paul Amakiri was handed over to keep safe bags of money, cabinet of files and every other thing the senior seminary depended on for its operations and survival. He was asked to keep them safe until when the seminary would reconvene and resume at its permanent place. Later on that month of January 1970, the young Paul Amakiri would hand over all that the missionaries left in his care to the priest who assumed the role as the care-taker of Bigard Memorial Seminary when it resumed at its permanent site in Enugu.

Mother Gertrude had a kind of similar experience with her congregation. She was appointed Superior General of her congregation in the late 1950s. She was deep in her second term when the civil war broke out. As she was in a place she was not quite welcome, she and her Igbo sisters were evacuated to Lagos. Despite all the hardships she went through as a result of the war, Mother Gertrude was able to hold her congregation together and eventually delivered a far-stronger and well-established congregation to the administration that succeeded hers shortly after the civil war was over. This was after having led the congregation through thick and thin for 18 years.

These real and symbolic actions demonstrate quite clearly the strength and confidence of the pre-civil war Catholic Church in Mbaise land. Both the Irish missionaries and their indigenous counterparts saw in the Mbaise man or woman a person of solid faith and commitment who deserved to be trusted. Before the departure of the Irish missionaries the Catholic Church in Mbaise land was considered the most virile and most worthy of trust. This, I pray, should remain the case today in spite of the storm that hit the ship of the Church in Mbaise following the death of her premier shepherd.

Creation of Ahiara Diocese
The age-long longing of the mammoth crowds of Catholics in Mbaise land for their land to be raised to the status of a diocese was realized on November 18, 1987. Ahiara Diocese was announced throughout the old Owerri Diocese and beyond as the name of the new diocese located in one of the clans of Mbaise territory to the thunderous joy of all Mbaise people. And to crown it all a topnotch Mbaise priest in the person of Msgr. Victor Adibe Chikwe of Ihitte Ezinihitte was announced as her first bishop.

Ahiara Diocese was declared the first rural diocese in Nigeria and Africa as a whole. Both the Holy Father and the Church hierarchy in Nigeria declared the creation of the rural diocese as an experiment and a pilot programme to test out whether such dioceses in purely rural settings can survive in Africa.

But as you could see by yourself today, the experiment with Ahiara Diocese for these 33 years has proven to be a huge success. Ahiara Diocese has not only succeeded but it has thrived and blossomed and has been soaring ever since to the greater glory of God.

Here are just some of the highlights of the success of Ahiara Diocese
Ahiara Diocese at its creation had taken off with 18 parishes. But 33 years after it now has nearly 84 parishes and counting.
The population of the diocese was about 250,000 Catholics at its creation, but today it has soared beyond half a million Catholics resident at home. And nearly 300,000 thousand other Catholics of Ahiara origin reside in the diaspora.
That is to say, Catholics of Ahiara Diocese both at home and in foreign lands are approaching a million in number. All these happening because the creation of the diocese in 1987 has proved to be a shot in the arm of evangelization in the diocese.
Catholics in Mbaise land enjoy a hefty majority of about 70% of the entire population of Mbaise land both at home and abroad.
Mbaise land has perhaps the highest concentration of Catholics per square kilometer in the whole continent of Africa.

Mbaise Catholics’ Contributions to the Catholic Church of Nigeria
The Catholic Church in Mbaise has among the best informed and organized laity in Nigeria. Our lay Catholics are among the most committed and advanced in all things relating to the Catholic faith. The lay Catholics of Ahiara Diocese know their rights in the Catholic Church and are never afraid to demand and assert them when the need arises.

And right from the creation of the Catholic Laity Council of Nigeria [CLCN] in the 1970s, Mbaise Catholics have always played some key roles in the organization. An Mbaise Catholic, Dr. O.C.N. Chukwu of blessed memory was one of the pioneer executive secretaries of the CLCN. Other Mbaise lay Catholics have held prominent position in the CLCN since its inception.

Ahiara Diocese has always been outstanding in her support and contribution to the council. Some of our lay leaders such as Chief Gerald Anyanwu and late Chief Kevin Njoku, etc, have made outstanding contributions to the apostolate of the laity council in Nigeria.

Beyond the laity council, the Catholic Church in Mbaise land has been a pioneer in many local initiatives in the Nigerian Catholic Church.

The Mary League Girls Association was first established here in the Catholic Church of the Mbaise people. Rev Fr Anthony Stiegler and Rev Fr David Panaky of Sacred Heart Parish, Nguru Centre fame, worked in collaboration with Mother Mary Coleman and her group to establish the first Mary League Girls apostolate in Nigeria.

The earlier versions of the Christian Fathers’ and Christian Mothers’ Associations long before they eventually transformed into Catholic Men and Catholic Women Organizations [CMO-CWO] traced some of their early origins to the Catholic Church in Mbaise land.

The practice of presenting to the Church a new born child after its baptism was a practice first popularized here among the Mbaise Catholics.

Igbo liturgical music received a tremendous boost with the many compositions of some maestros of Mbaise origin such as Peace Val Ihim and Willie Oleka.

Also, the many great choirs from the Catholic Church in Mbaise land such as Immaculate Conception Choir Oboama Enyiogugu, St Anthony’s Choir Umunama Ezinihitte, St Edmund’s Choir Okpofe Ezinihitte and St Cecilia’s Choir Oru Ahiara helped give shape and impetus to Igbo liturgical music of the early 1970s.

Priests’ competitive sports known in Ahiara Diocese as “Clergy Week” were first introduced in Ahiara Diocese by the late Bishop Victor Chikwe.

Fruits of the Catholic Church in Mbaise land
The Catholic Church in Mbaise land has borne abundant fruits in all fields of her endeavors. She has produced great parochial and station churches with teeming populations. She has built many churches, great institutions and produced noble men and women for the human society.

The Catholic Church the world over is a far better place with the local church in Ahiara Diocese taking her proper place in the comity of other dioceses in Nigeria and Africa as a whole.

But the Church in Mbaise land is not relenting or resting on her laurels. Rather she is soaring and is now on the threshold of bearing even more lasting fruits to the greater glory of God.

A holy daughter of the Catholic Church in Mbaise land, the Servant of God, Vivian Uchechi Ogu, virgin and martyr, who is a product of the Catholic Church in Mbaise land in collaboration with the Catholic Church in Benin City, is on the verge of being canonized a saint in the Catholic Church. This will be, whenever it happens, a befitting crown on the noble spirituality of the great Mbaise land where the parents of the servant of God hail from.

The late Msgr. Edward Ahaji Nwoga, the trail blazer of priestly vocations in Mbaise land, a guru in the spirituality of early Catholic Church in Nigeria, is being proposed for sainthood by the great diocese of Umuahia. Edward Ahaji’s sainthood, whenever the Lord wills it to happen, will be an additional gold crown on the head of the great Catholic Church of the Mbaise people.

The Catholic Church in Mbaise land has produced more missionaries to both foreign and home lands than perhaps any other diocese in Nigeria. Priests and religious men and women of Mbaise origin are fanned out across the globe preaching the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Mbaise Catholic laymen and women are not outdone in the overall missionary zeal of the Mbaise people. In cities and dioceses across Nigeria and beyond, lay Mbaise Catholics serve as catechists, parish councilors, music directors, ushers, staffs of chanceries and parishes, security men and women etc. Everywhere one goes, Catholics of Mbaise origin distinguish themselves with their unique commitment to the Catholic faith. These are great ambassadors of the Catholic Diocese of Ahiara.

Mbaise People’s Hospitality
The land of the Mbaise people has always been hospitable towards foreigners. From time immemorial Mbaise land has always been welcoming to people from all parts of Nigeria and the world as a whole. A few instances will suffice here:
During the Civil War in Nigeria, Mbaise land was very open to people from all over Igbo land. Refugees flooded Mbaise land from all parts of the then Eastern Nigeria. And they lived peacefully and harmoniously with all Mbaise people.
Mbaise land was considered the greatest stronghold of the Biafran resistance. As a result, many prominent Igbo people who were prosecuting the war efforts sought refuge in Mbaise land and were accommodated and protected in this land.
The leader of the Biafran resistance, Major General Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu was accommodated in Mbaise land.
Ahiara whose name the Catholic Diocese of Ahiara bears was the last capital of the Biafran Republic.
It was at St Brigid’s Catholic Church, Nnarambia, the premier Catholic Church in Mbaise land that the great Ahiara Declaration was announced.
The world-celebrated author, late Chinua Achebe testifies in his last testament: There Was A Country, that Ahiara was the last capital of Biafra.
The first president of Nigeria, Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe was a guest of the Mbaise people during the war. He lived in Mbaise land as a refugee and was protected and served until he began his peace efforts across the world.
The great Bishop GMP Okoye was hosted in Mbaise land during the war.
Many other prominent Igbo leaders too numerous to mention were hosted and protected in Mbaise land all through the period of the civil war.

Some Landmark Achievements of Mbaise people
The land of the Mbaise people has recorded some landmark achievements that make her respectable and loveable by any fair-minded visitors to the land. These will be impossible to enumerate here. But a few highlights will suffice:
In academics, Mbaise people have made serious breakthroughs in the academic field. Mbaise leads many of her counterparts in the production of doctors, professors and professionals of all fields.
The first priest professor in Nigeria was a man from Mbaise land in the person of Rev Fr Professor Innocent Onyewuenyi of blessed memory. Late Professor Onyewuenyi was also the founder of the Diocesan Priests Association which has spread all over Nigeria and Africa as a whole.
In sports, the first female Olympic Gold Medalist in Africa is an Mbaise woman in the person of Chioma Ajunwa.
Mbaise land has consistently produced great sports stars. Before the civil war, an Mbaise man, Francis Uwalaka was the toast of Nigerian football. He was succeeded by great Mbaise football stars like Patrick Ekeji, Chidi Nwanu and many others.
The famous Mbaise Football Club was feared throughout the Eastern Region before the civil war. It competed with football clubs from Aba, Port Harcourt and Enugu.
In culture, Mbaise people have been making their marks. The celebrated Ahianjoku Lecture Series in Imo State was established by an Mbaise man called Gaius Anoka.
The famous Abigbo Dance which is the king and toast of Igbo culture was born in Mbaise land where it remains till date the most popular cultural music in Igbo land as a whole.
Chrysogonus Ezewuiro Obinna [alias Sir Warrior] of the Oriental Brothers fame, a great son of Mbaise land, is a cultural icon in highlife music whose contributions to the social life of Nigerians and Africans as a whole will never be forgotten.
In politics, Mbaise people have been there as prominent as ever from the pre-independence period. In the First Republic, Dr Innocent Ogbonna was Minister of Commerce and Industry in Eastern Nigeria while Chief Pius Nwoga was Minister of Town Planning. Chief Dennis Abii was the Chief Whip of the House of Representatives. In the Second Republic Mbaise people were also visible and prominent. Dr Sylvester Ugoh was Minister of Science and Technology. He later on became the vice presidential candidate for one of the two leading political parties. Dr. Ugoh was the principal signatory to the Biafran currency.
In the Third Republic, an Mbaise man, Professor Fabian Osuji was prominent and was a shoo-in to become the governor of Imo State. But the military junta called Ibrahim Babangida disqualified him. Alex Obi of Enyiogugu stepped in to contest for the governorship position in place of Fabian Osuji but lost to Governor Evan Enwerem with a thin margin.
In the Fourth Republic currently on, Mbaise people are prominent and everywhere. An Mbaise man, Emeka Ihedioha was deputy speaker and speaker of the House of Representatives in Nigeria for eight years. He later contested and won the governorship of Imo State. Prof Viola Adaku Onwuliri was junior minister of external affairs and later junior minister of Education. She later became Imo State Commissioner of Education.
The list can go on indefinitely.

Tragedy in Ahiara Diocese
A monumental tragedy struck the Catholic Diocese of Ahiara, Mbaise, on September 16, 2010, when the great Bishop Victor Chikwe, who was the beloved of the Catholic Church of Mbaise land died quite suddenly.

That singular event was like a huge earthquake whose aftershocks are still being felt throughout Mbaise land ten years after.

The sudden death of Bishop Chikwe caused a huge trauma in the psyche of all Mbaise Catholics. Its dangerous effects would spiral into the prolonged bishopric crisis in Ahiara Diocese, which I believe, most of you are aware of.

The truth is there was nothing about the crisis that was premeditated or preplanned. Everything that took place during the prolonged crisis was as a result of the trauma Mbaise Catholics felt. The unfortunate crisis was the way they chose to express their rejection and revolt against the sudden death of their beloved bishop. We pray that you do not judge Ahiara Diocese with that ugly period in her rather unblemished long history of total commitment to the Catholic faith.

Regrets and Apologies
Ahiara Diocesan priests having rendered their heartfelt apologies to the Holy Father, Pope Francis, over the prolonged bishopric crisis in their diocese, I, the Episcopal Vicar for the Laity of our diocese, deem it wise and appropriate to extend the same regrets and apologies to our lay brothers and sisters in the Catholic Church of Nigeria on behalf of the laity of Ahiara Diocese. We pray that you find it in your hearts to forgive us. We were a victim of a great temptation which the devil visited on our diocese.

The prolonged bishopric crisis we suffered originated and escalated from the great trauma we felt as a result of the sudden death of our beloved Bishop Victor Adibe Chikwe. That tragic event turned the entire diocese upside down. As a result many things which were unimaginable and unthinkable before that time began to take place in our highly devout diocese. As a result, we were driven towards the precipice in our Catholic faith.

Thanks be to God the Holy Father, Pope Francis intervened in a timely manner to still the dangerous storm in our faith and in our church.

We wish to report to you that Ahiara Diocese is fully back. Credit goes primarily to God almighty that saw us through and saved us from the stormy sea that nearly capsized the boat of our Catholic faith.

Also, we thank the Holy Father, Pope Francis for his timely intervention that brought the whole storm to a stop.

But great thanks and eternal gratitude belong to our Apostolic Administrator, Most Rev Lucius Iwejuru Ugorji, who has become the Moses of our time leading the entire Ahiara Diocese back to the Promised Land. Bishop Ugorji has done a very miraculous job in Ahiara Diocese leading the nearly lost sheep of the diocese back to the fold.

And like the great Moses of the bible, it has not been easy for Bishop Ugorji leading a people who can sometimes be stiff-necked and stubborn. But we thank him for his tremendous patience and great sacrifices that have brought us to the point in which we can safely say that Ahiara Diocese is fully back to what she used to be and what she is meant to be. To God be all the glory!

Our dear brothers and sisters from the different parts of Nigeria, what you see in Ahiara Diocese of today should convince you that God works in a very mysterious way. The crisis in our diocese has been used and is still being used by God to teach us some valuable lessons in our Catholic faith. We must be vigilant in all aspects of our faith. The devil is ever lurking to sow some seeds of discord in our church. It is our bounding duty to be alert and to be on our toes so as to thwart his wicked plans.

As a result of the crisis in Ahiara Diocese, we can no longer afford to take anything for granted. The devil can use anything and any means it chooses to try to undermine our faith and attempt to bring down our church in Nigeria. We must be vigilant and do the right things all the time.

Justice and peace must be our watchword. This is because our faith, both individually and collectively, is very precious and ever fragile. It must be jealously guarded at all times as a little misunderstanding or a lack of understanding or misconception of reality can send the whole architecture of faith into a tailspin.

But we live with the great assurance of our Lord Jesus Christ, that since our Catholic faith has its foundation in the solid rock that is St Peter’s true confession, the gate of the underworld will never defeat it.

God bless you all.