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Romanus Okoye
For many years, the indigenes of Umuikwu Anam in Anambra West Local Government Area of Anambra State and the Anglican mission had co-existed peacefully. But on Tuesday, February 4, 2020, things fell apart between the church and the town.
That day, a number of yet-to-be-identified gunmen shot randomly throughout the night and demolished the building of the St. Michael Anglican Church, Umuikwu Anam, which was under construction. The demolished building was alleged to be worth about N10 million.
The traditional ruler of Ezi Anam, comprising Umuikwu and Umudora communities, Igwe Ben Nworji Onyeka, said the community was yet to locate and apprehend the culprits.
“I do not support violence in any form,” he said. “I summoned a community meeting immediately I heard about the destruction of the church’s foundation. However, I must explain that when the bishop proposed to build a church on Oraka Central School’s field, I told him that it would definitely lead to blocking an access road and I cannot support blocking such an important access. It is an access road to the community, and it has been in use throughout the days of my forefathers. It will not be in my tenure as the traditional ruler that it will be blocked. In a nutshell, the community has not approved the location of the church building on the only existing field. But I must point out that I do not support settling issues in a violent manner. However, I am very hopeful that, since Governor Willie Obiano has stepped into the matter, all the parties involved will arrive at an acceptable position so as to continue to co-habit peacefully.”
But the Bishop of Mbamili Anglican Diocese, Henry Okeke, alleged that there was threat to his life and other clerics. He said: “Around 10pm, we started to hear gunshots, while they were pulling down the cathedral building. They were threatening and shouting on top of their voices that anybody, including the bishop, who came out, would be shot dead. They have done so many things to threaten lives here, but God has been keeping us.”
Bishop Okeke said this was not the first time that such a thing was happening. “Some time ago, we were holding a church vigil and the youths insisted that we must put out our lights because they were performing a customary activity in the night. I am not against traditional practices by those who chose to, as long as they are not obnoxious or repugnant to natural justice, equity and good conscience. But the church must be allowed to exist on its own. Miscreants harass our students, hence the need to fence our land that has three schools and the church to avoid altercations.”
According to Okeke, the problem started in 2018 when the church wanted to build a fence round its property housing three schools with a boarding house and commence the construction of a befitting cathedral. He said the edifice was pulled down twice. He said: “The security of our students is very paramount. The road in question is not even a major road. The land given to the church many years ago has been heavily encroached, leaving the church with just about 20 to 30 plots now and some people still object to its fencing. I cannot imagine someone saying that an agreement legally signed by his ancestors is not binding. It is well gazetted with relevant documents. We do not understand why they are preventing us from carrying out our projects.
“The church has been here for several years. Our type of evangelism is all-encompassing. We carry out developmental projects, including building schools in their farmlands. We offer scholarship to some sons and daughters of the land. We help prevent wars with their neighbours, assist farmers offset bank loans worth about N13.5 million, call government’s attention to their problems. We attracted stand-alone solar-powered streetlights and gave shelter to some aged women, among others. It is our hope that, since Governor Obiano and stakeholders in Anglican Church have waded into the matter, it will be resolved soon.”
An indigene of Umuikwu, who pleaded anonymity, responded to some issues raised by those opposed to the church project. The issues include changing the name of their primary school, building a cathedral in a football field, taking over about 24.78 hectares of land as well as the community generator, among others.
He explained that, “Oraka Central School is a mission school established by the Anglican Church in 1945 with the name as St. Michael’s Primary School. This was the name till the end of the Nigerian Civil War, when government took over schools to enhance the ‘3Rs’ policy. So the name changed to Oraka Central School. But in 2011, under Mr. Peter Obi as governor of Anambra State, the schools were handed back to the missionaries through a law enacted by the House of Assembly. Consequently, Oraka was handed back to the Anglican Church, the original owner.
“The law gave the missions power to fire and hire, including using the old names. For instance, Umueri Girls Secondary School was handed back to the Catholic Archdiocese of Onitsha, who returned to the old name, Stella Maris Secondary School, and this is not negotiable between the mission and their host community.
“The land in contention is housing three schools presently, a nursery, primary and secondary school. The building of the new church that was demolished was intended to meet the modern standards of a cathedral. For many years, the villagers were only allowed to use the field of St. Michael’s, not that it belonged to them. There is no fraud in the way the land was given to Mbamili Diocese because due process was followed by elders of the community. Town hall meetings were held, not once but several times. It was in the community’s minutes book and a delegation was sent to give out the land to the church. It was duly signed by the authorities.
“The community had a Lister generator donated to them by Chief Douglas Onyeka. After a while, the community could no longer maintain it. It stopped functioning and the community abandoned it. The 2012 flood submerged it. The vicar of the church met with the community leadership and requested that, instead of the generator to rust away, it could be sold to the church. The community leadership told the church to repair and use, if it was repairable and the church did. The main contention is that the church wants to fence the land but some powerful people are against it. So, they sponsored youths to form a youth association to be used as political tool.”
President-general, Ezi Anam Community, Chief Charles Okafor, said that dialogue would be the best way in resolving the disagreements. Explaining that the issues at stake needed the understanding of all the parties, he urged everyone to have an open mind and be interested in an amicable resolution.
The curate of the church, Reverend Okechukwu Udechukwu, said it was a very sad development and prayed for a peaceful resolution.
