Recently, the media was awashed by alleged resignation or sack of a priest of an Anglican Communion in Anambra state, Rev Canon Lumenkristi Sylvester Eboh. OKECHUKWU ONUEGBU writes on the facts of the matter.
In the recent past, the media was inaudated with tales of the resignation or sack of a priest of the Diocese on the Niger, Anglican Communion. Diocese on the Niger, one of the 10 Dioceses of Anglican Communion in Nigeria, is located at Onitsha, Anambra state. It is often referred to as the mother or flagship of Anglican Communion in the country. Perhaps, this entails why the news became a national discourse.
Rev Canon Lumenkristi Sylvester Eboh, vicar, Christ Township Church Umudioka, Dunukofia LGA, at a press conference in Awka, the state capital on Monday, March 7 2022, told the media that he resigned his priesthood in Anglican communion because some forces in the church made his wife to leave him but gave her an accommodation at unknown destination.
Eboh, who owns a prayer ministry, God in Action Adoration Ministry Ogidi, Idemili North LGA, further alleged that his operation of the ministry was the root cause of his woes with the church.
I am being persecuted
He added that trouble started when the Diocesean Bishop, Most Rev Owen Nwokolo, urged him to include his name and that of his (Nwokolo’s) wife as trustees of the church, a development which according to him, he refused.
“I have a special call by God to spread His word in peculiar ways and to minister to souls, heal the sick and bring God’s blessings upon souls. For this reason, I was moved by the Holy Spirit to begin working in a congregation which later metamorphosed as God in Action Adoration Ministry. This course of ministration by me is what I can say instigated antagonism and persecution from angles controlled by Bishop Owen Nwokolo.
“I am the only priest in the Diocese who is not on the salary list because I rejected salary. However my lord Bishop later called me and insisted that he wanted himself and his wife to be included as trustees in the registered titles of the adoration ministry.
“When I prayed about his demand, I got clear revelation that God had different purposes for the Bishop, but not within the adoration ministry and I conveyed this message to him.
“He threatened to ban my activities within the Diocese and to bring me down for this refusal, but I relied on God. Even if they kill me tomorrow, some persons are aware of my correspondences with the Bishop on this matter and by social media exchanges. That is just the problem,” he alleged.
Eboh guilty of infractions
But addressing a press conference in Awka on Thursday March 10, the Deputy Chancellor of the Dioecese on the Niger, Mr Ben Uzuegbu, who is a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), said the priest was sent on indefinite suspension on December 20, 2021 and that his licence as a priest in the Diocese had also been withdrawn.
Uzuegbu, who said it was due to his numerous acts contrary to the Scripture and traditions of the church in accordance to Canon XVI (38) of Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion), added that the Diocese had at different occasions tried to settle the matter by constituting a panel, but the priest neither honoured their invitation nor replied them.
According to him, these include allegations of issues the priest had with his estranged wife and her family, pending court case with reference number FHC/Awk/C/34/2019, buying products from people without paying back and complaint documented by the Law Zoomers, a legal firm which claimed that the priest impregnated a health challenged lady who was under his custody for prayers, among others.
The SAN also explained that the constitution of the Diocese did not allow registration of a rival church or ministry as established by the embattled priest. Adding further, he said that the same constitution stipulates the ownership of the various property acquired by every parish or through priests of the Dioecese while under their employment and stewardship.
“There is no provision in the constitution for a priest to register a parallel ministry while serving the Dioecese without the official approval from his Bishop. Therefore, this allegations shows the extent the so called Lumenkristi goes to deceive the public. You can judge by yourselves. He was living in the church, being paid by the church, using the church property and resources, misappropriated funds entrusted to him, discreetly registered a ministry yet still claims to be a priest,” he noted.
In corroboration of guilt as charged
Also speaking, the director of communications, Diocese on the Niger, Sir Oselloka Offoh, described as unfounded allegations by their former priest that Bishop Nwokolo was high-handed or conspired against him.
“On the claims of high handedness, harassment, conspiracy and character defamation, it is on record that the Bishop on the Niger is besieged with lots of petitions against Lumenkristi Eboh. All the petitions bother on acts of impropriety and unwholesome conducts not expected of a priest. He was invited to attend to the serious allegations by a panel which he ignored. Also, our Diocese has various packages for the priest.
“Packages the Diocese have for the priest and workers are health insurance scheme for workers and their families, theological training and post ordination training scholarships for priests, clergy and wife retreats, seminars and get-together, non profit loan facilities through Akuchukwu Microfinance Bank, subsidised housing estates at Ojoto where priests/workers bought land at lower rates to enable them have a retirement house and others,” he noted.
Eboh fires back
After the statements from the Diocese, Eboh fired back in a statement insisting that what the deputy chancellor and director of communications said were untrue.
He said, “I tendered my letter of resignation dated 21/12/2021, following which the Bishop in hysteria directed that a letter of suspension be made for me and backdated to 20/12/21. At my level of training and exposure, I could not be so pitifully silly as to write a letter of resignation boldly dated 21/12/21 if indeed I had been issued a suspension notice dated 20/12/21.”
At the moment, it is not clear how this turns out especially as it concerns their various assignments in God’s vineyard.
