Bishop Johnson Ekwe tears Umueri Apart over Niger West Diocesan Bishop's court location

The Primate

Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion)

Bishop’s Court

Our Saviour’s Church

Wuse Zone 5

Abuja.

Your Grace,

Save Our Souls From Bishop Johnson Ekwe

Preamble: On behalf of the good people of Umueri in Anambra East Local Government Area of Anambra State, the Umueri General Assembly (UGA) respectfully and humbly writes to appeal to Your Grace to save Umueri, restore her rights and privileges and consequently prevent the re-enactment of the notorious Aguleri-Umueri war which the unjust siting of the Bishop’s Court of Niger-West Diocese in Aguleri by His Lordship Rt. Rev. Johnson Ekwe, our Diocesan Bishop, is likely to cause.

The Issue: On March 22, 2016, His Lordship, Rt. Rev. Johnson Ekwe, in a bizarre military fashion and without due consultation and deliberation with relevant statutory bodies such as the Niger-West Diocesan Council and Umueri Anglican Community, to mention just two bodies, went to Aguleri and laid the foundation of the Bishop’s Court of Niger-West Diocese.

That singular action, it must be stressed, was and is still, contrary to the convention where the Bishop Court of any Diocese is located in the same community with the Diocesan Headquarters. It is also a negation of the view canvassed by a cross-section of the members of our Diocese when a similar move was contemplated by our former Bishop, Rt. Rev. (Prof) Anthony Nkwoka, some few years ago.

Why the fuss about the siting of our Bishop’s Court at Aguleri?
This action is non-conventional. Elsewhere Bishops’ Courts are located in the towns where the Diocesan headquarters are sited. Examples include Diocese on the Niger (with both headquarters and Bishop’s Court sited in Onitsha); Diocese of Awka (both headquarters and Bishop’s Court located in the same place, namely, Awka); Diocese of Nnewi (with both headquarters and Bishop’s Court in the same Nnewi). The same scenario is found in Diocese of Aguata, Diocese of Ogbaru, Diocese of Ihiala and Diocese of Mbamili which was created the same day as Niger-West Diocese.

History of Anglican Church in Umueri: Throughout the Omabala area comprising four Local Government Areas (Anambra East, Anambra West, Oyi and Ayamelum Local Government Areas), Umueri was the very place where the first seed of Anglicanism was planted in 1904. As of today, about 80 percent of our people are Anglicans while about five percent of Aguleri citizens are Anglicans. Majority of Aguleri people are Catholics. The Catholic Church has even granted them a Diocese (of Aguleri) with a Bishop living there.

The peculiarity of our area does not in any way allow for the location of the Bishop’s Court in Aguleri because ordinarily, this will breed suspicion, agony and trepidation, given the long-standing strained relationship between Umueri and Aguleri communities. Christianity has not even been able to ameliorate the situation. When the Catholic  Church (which headquarters is in Aguleri) wanted to build a monastery in Umueri, Aguleri people protested and ensured that the decision was reversed. The relationship between the two communities is as bad as that!

The Story of Umueri And Aguleri: The story of Umueri and Aguleri is a peculiar one akin to the stories of Ife and Modakeke in the Western part of Nigeria and Israel and Palestine in the Middle East of the World.

It is a sad story of age-old hostility, rivalry, litigations and wars. The Umueri-Aguleri land case is the oldest land dispute in Nigeria according to our country’s Judicial records. The memories of Umueri-Aguleri wars of 1964,1995 and 1999 and their attendant consequences and repercussions remain evergreen in the minds of the people of the two communities. The scars inflicted on them are still conspicuous: dilapidated structures dot their landscapes and bereaved families still miss their loved ones cut down by these wars.

What is more, no week passes by without one skirmish or another between the two communities. Anambra State Government’s purported acquisition of Umueri land and payment of compensation to Aguleri people, the lopsided allocation of amenities and several indignities meted out to Umueri people all point to one fact, namely, a concerted effort to erase Umueri from the surface of the Earth.

It is against this horrible, nay horrendous background that one can really understand the enormity of the damage done to peace, justice and equity by Bishop Johnson Ekwe in siting the Bishop’s Court of Diocese of Niger- West in Aguleri when the headquarters of that Diocese is domiciled in Umueri. Meanwhile, only about five percent of Aguleri people are Anglicans.

Throughout the whole of the old Anambra County Council, it was in Umueri that the Anglican Church was planted in 1904! Today that former county council consists of Anambra East, Anambra West, Oyi and Ayamelum Local Government Areas and some parts of Awka North Local Government Area.

The Pre-Bishop Johnson Ekwe Era: Before Rev. Johnson Ekwe was consecrated Bishop of Niger-West Diocese on April 25, 2015, Bishops Ken Sandy and Anthony Nkwoka had held sway in Diocese of the Niger and Diocese of Niger-West respectively. Both of them are still living. They can clearly testify that between the Umueri and Aguleri Anglicans, there is no love lost just as is the case between the larger Umueri Community and the larger Aguleri Community.
This animosity was made manifest when Aguleri Anglicans refused to operate under Niger-West Diocese (upon the creation of the Diocese) simply because the headquarters was rightly domiciled in Umueri (St. Gabriel’s Cathedral Church, Umueri).

Several efforts were made by the then presiding Bishop Ken Sandy to appeal to the Aguleri Anglicans to recoil. On his own part, during the episcopacy of the now retired Bishop (Prof) Anthony Nkwoka as Bishop of Niger-West Diocese, there was a clandestine attempt to move the proposed Bishop’s Court from Umueri (where more than 20 plots of land were made available for that purpose) to Aguleri. This was stoutly resisted, prompting the National Headquarters of the Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion) to halt that move.


Now, Bishop Ekwe has used “military” fiat to rob Umueri of her entitlement. Where else in Anambra State do you find a Bishop’s Court taken to another community than the community where the diocesan headquarters is domiciled?”   

Our Prayer: In the light of the foregoing, we earnestly pray Your Grace to call His Lordship, Rt. Rev. Johnson Ekwe to order,  prevail on him to stop further action on the Bishop’s Court project at Aguleri and commence immediate building of the Bishop’s Court on the over 20 plot-land provided in Umueri by Umueri people. This way, justice, equity and infact sanity will be restored and another Umueri and Aguleri war averted. We so pray Your Grace! May the good Lord touch you to do this, Amen!

Please accept the assurances of our highest regards at all times.

Yours in Christ,

Pius Okonkwo                        Sam Mbukwesili   
President-General                     Secretary-General