Fresh crisis is rocking
Anglican Church Diocese on the Lake in Oguta Local Government Area of
Imo State as the diocesan Bishop, Rt. Rev. C.B.N. Otti, has dragged
three senior priests of the church to court for failing to vacate the
church premises where they reside with their families.
Orient
Daily learnt that the priests, Venerable Canon Eu- gene Onwubie; Rev.
Eugene Iheanacho and Ven. Caleb Udom, who are officially in charge of
St. Mathias Anglican Church, Nkwesi and Emmanuel Church, Izombe,
respectively were sued by the bishop for refusing to submit their
ordination certificates to him, a development that led to his issuing
them seven days’ notice to vacate their official residences.
However,
the crisis took a new twist after the Magis- trate Court in Oguta
adjourned the matter with suit no: MOG/10/2017 till December 14, 2017,
with worshippers of the affected parishes trooping out in their hundreds
to the An- glican Cathedral in Oguta near the court premises demanding
the sacking of the bishop.
They carried placards with several
inscriptions such as “Bishop Otti, Stop this intimidation now or face
our anger”, ‘Bishop Otti, is Diocese on the Lake your private
business?”, “Bishop Otti, pay your priests”, “Oguta youths say no to
your intimidation, harassment and humiliation”, Enough is enough, Bishop
Otti”, amongst others.
Briefing journalists on the matter,
spokesman from St. Mathias Anglican Church, Nkwesi, Elder Edwin
Onyemaechi, described the bishop’s action against the affected priests
as shameful, saying “he brought a minor matter that should have been
handled in- house to court. What has happened to round table
discussion?” he queried.
He said the protest would
continue
even to Abuja so that the Anglican Primate would use the opportunity to
transfer the bishop to theological sem- inary where he would have no
opportunity to pollute the church anymore. He called on the leadership
of the church to intervene in the matter before it gets out of hand.
Another
protester, who iden- tified himself as Chimamkpa, decried the manner
Otti’s nine years rein as the bishop of the diocese had reduced the
Angli- can Church to laughing stock with many leaving the church in
droves for nearby diocese like Oru and Owerri or other denominations
over his malad- ministration.
The protesters maintained that their protest was to demon- strate support and solidarity to the persecuted priests.
Orient
Daily gathered that the crux of the matter was that the bishop accused
the priests of withholding monies they were supposed to pay to the
diocese from their parishes, an action the bishop viewed as gross mis-
conduct and disobedience.
When the situation con-
tinued,
the bishop was said to have demanded that the priests return their
ordination certificates to him and cease to be priests of the Anglican
Church, a demand the priests refused to obey because they were said to
be owed salaries by the bishop. The disobedience, it was learnt, led
to the Bishop issu- ing quit notice to the priests to vacate the
premises of the churches where they hitherto presided.
Reacting
separately, the three priests said they were registered ordained priests
from Owerri Diocese, point- ing out that surrendering their
certificates and licences could mean that they had been sacked from the
church.
They expressed worry over the continued silence of the
Anglican Primate, Archbishop Nicholas Okoh on the matter. They accused
the bishop of taking laws into his hands by not waiting for the
intervention of the Anglican Primate.
Meanwhile, all efforts to reach the bishop proved abortive as security guards around the cathedral said he travelled.
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