Ekwulobia, 09 March, 2021 / 5:50 pm (ACI Africa).
On the occasion of the first anniversary of Nigeria’s Ekwulobia Diocese, the Apostolic Nuncio in the West African country has called on the people of God in the Diocese to emulate the collaborative spirit and obedience, which St. Joseph portrayed.
Speaking during the Saturday, March 6 event, Archbishop Antonio Guido Filipazzi who presided over the Holy Eucharist recalled that the Nigerian Diocese was created as a result of "the remarkable numerical growth of Awka diocese.”
According to a report, which the National Director of Social Communications of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Nigeria (CBCN), Fr. Mike Umoh, shared with ACI Africa, Archbishop Filipazzi said, "We cannot remain silent about another fact, a non-positive fact that preceded the appointment of the first Bishop of Ekwulobia. I recall it not to recriminate and make polemics, but as a warning."
The Nuncio was making reference to Bishop Peter Ebere Okpaleke who was previously rejected by a section of the clergy and lay faithful of Nigeria’s Ahiara Diocese.
The protracted back-and-forth tussle that led to Bishop Okpaleke’s resignation as the Local Ordinary of Ahiara in February 2018 after he been ordained a Bishop in May 2013 “alerts us to certain dangers that threaten the life and mission of the Church,” Fr. Umoh quotes the Nuncio as saying in his March 7 report to ACI Africa.