Nwobodo dumps Anglican Church for Catholic Church, attacks Bishop Chukwuma, Catholic Bishop Onaga weds him and wife Pat

It was tensed move in Enugu as hours after the former founding member of the Board of Trustee (BoT) of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and former governor of the old Anambra State, Senator Jim Nwobodo, decamped to the All Progressives Congress (APC), he has also dumped the Anglican Church for the Catholic Church.
Not just dumping the church, he yesterday morning wedded his wife, Pat in the Catholic Church. Jim and Pat have been married for years and had, had children before the solemnization ceremony.
Nwobodo, an ardent Christian of the Anglican denomination, wedded Pat in a Catholic Church, at Independence layout, Enugu.
The wedding ceremony was conducted by the Catholic Bishop of Enugu, Most Rev. Callistus Onaga. A colourful ceremony that witnessed the presence of the Enugu State Governor, Hon Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi and his wife, Monica, took place shortly after the wedding.
Insiders said it must not be unconnected with his recent family feud, made worse by the children of his estranged wife, Mukosolu, who he divorced even before he became state governor in 1979.
Mukosolu’s children had collected the corpse of his first son, Dr. Ifeanyi Nwobodo, from the mortuary, mid last year and prevented Nwobodo from conducting the burial the way he wanted it.
The dispute arose when the children disagreed with their father over his decision that Ifeanyi would not be buried inside his personal compound but in Ifeanyi’s own compound, which he built for the deceased son.
It was also gathered from another source that Nwobodo had been engaged in a running battle with the Anglican Church which, it was gathered, bluntly refused to accept his plea to have Pat wedded by the Church after tendering the divorce documents against Mukosolu.
This forced Nwobodo to take the final step of dumping the Anglican Church for the Catholic Church which it was learnt, does not have issues wedding baptised couple from the Anglican Church which it shares some liturgical similarities with.
Yet, another version of the same story claims that Nwobodo is currently having a running battle precisely with the Anglican Arch-Bishop of Enugu Ecclesiastical Province, His Grace, Rt. Rev. Emmanuel Chukwuma, over claimed irreconcilable differences.
The matter of Ifeanyi’s burial had generated serious controversy within Nwobodo’s Amechi Awkunanaw community, the Anglican Church and his extended family; and had delayed the final funeral ceremony of Ifeanyi for several hours, last year, before Bishop Chukwuma, fi¬nally kick started the funeral church service at St Mathew’s Anglican Church, Amechi Awkunanaw, Jim’s commu¬nity, in Enugu South Local Government Area.
 Nwobodo will to¬day celebrate the wedding thanksgiving with mass at the Holy Ghost Catholic Cathe¬dral in Ogui, Enugu.
The wedding with Pat was witnessed by the State Gover¬nor, Hon. Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, whom many describe as “a man with large heart” as the solemnization came barely hours after Nwobodo de¬fected to the APC which is unrelenting in plotting Ug¬wuanyi’s second term defeat.

•Why I dumped the An¬glican Church – Nwobodo

Meanwhile, Nwobodo has explained why he dumped the Anglican church, accus¬ing the church hierarchy of engaging in despicable acts, which he could no longer bear.
Speaking exclusively on Sunday, shortly after the wedding, Nwobodo stated that inspite of everything he did to assist the church, he could no lon¬ger bear the excesses of the church, particularly what he dubbed ungodly instigation of crises in his family by the Anglican Church and alleg¬edly condoned by Arch-Bish¬op Chukwuma.
In particular, he frowned at how the Bishop and some other church hierarchy “tried stridently to dictate to me how and where to bury my late son, Ifeanyi, ostensibly by my former son and daugh¬ter and even when I reported the issues to the Primate of the Anglican Church, he did nothing about it”.
Stressing that he feels ful¬filled having joined the Cath¬olic Church, he denigrated what he dubbed “lack of es¬tablished church hierarchy in the Anglican church which promotes indiscipline”.
Said he: “The Church (An¬glican Church) was terrible to me. Inspite of everything I did for them, they have been unfair to me. In Enugu, they have a terrible leader in the person of Arch-Bishop Chuk¬wuma and I am extremely happy I am in the Catho¬lic Church. In the Catholic Church, there is established church hierarchy unlike the Anglican Church where there is so much indiscipline.
“They (Anglican Church) did everything to make me stay back, but I refused. The one that angered me most was the despicable role played by the Arch-Bishop Chukwuma to dictate to me how and where to bury If¬eanyi and when I reported to the Primate, he did nothing.
Jim Nwobodo was born on 9 May 1940 in Agyaragu, Lafia, Nassarawa State. He completed his secondary school education in 1956 at Government School, Awka, now Anambra State, then attended St. Peter’s College, Zaria (1956–1959).
He went on to on the Ni¬gerian College of Arts, Sci¬ence and Technology, first at Enugu and then at Ibadan, and then attended the Uni¬versity College Ibadan (1961–1964), earning a BA in English.
He was a member of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), the United Nigeria Congress Party (UNCP) and later Grassroots Democratic Movement (GDM). He was a founding member of the PDP.

The Authority