Buea, 29 September, 2020 / 9:45 pm (ACI Africa).
Catholic Bishops in Cameroon’s Bamenda Ecclesiastical Province have, in a collective message, expressed their “complete solidarity” with the Apostolic Administrator of Buea Diocese who has been besieged by administrative controversies, the main one being the changes he decreed for the leadership of the Catholic University Institute of Buea (CUIB).
In June, Bishop Bibi made changes at CUIB, appointing Professor Victor Julius Ngoh as Vice Chancellor, a position previously held by Fr. George Nkeze Jingwa, whom the Bishop asked to take a sabbatical leave.
Members of the University Council disapproved of the change and dragged Bishop Michael Bibi, the Apostolic Administrator of Buea Diocese to court.
“We, the Bishops of BAPEC (Bamenda Provincial Episcopal Conference), do not only condemn such disobedience and damage caused to the local Church, but also express complete solidarity with our brother Bishop, the Apostolic Administrator of the Diocese of Buea,” the members of BAPEC say in their collective statement sent to ACI Africa Tuesday, September 29.
The Bishops who issued their statement at the end of the 69th BAPEC meeting on September 26 note “with regret the sad events that have characterized the last couple of months in the Diocese of Buea, regarding some administrative acts posited by the legitimate Apostolic Administrator of the Diocese, His Lordship Michael Miabesue Bibi.”