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Aloysius Attah, Onitsha
There was jubilation among Catholic faithful in Anambra, yesterday, following the establishment of the Diocese of Ekwulobia by Pope Francis and the appointment of Bishop Peter Ebere Okpaleke as its first bishop.
Okpaleke until his appointment was the Emeritus Bishop of Ahiara diocese, but had resigned the position to allow for peace, following a protracted crisis that trailed his appointment as some priests rejected him in preference for an indigene.
The Catholic Bishop of Awka, Most Rev. Paulinus Ezeokafor, who read the letter from the Vatican announcing the appointment of Okpaleke as the new bishop of Ekwulobia, described the development as “pleasant news with joy and gladness”
Ezeokafor disclosed that the new diocese was formed from a part of the territory of the Diocese of Awka, and would be a suffragan See of the Metropolitan See of Onitsha, while the newly created diocese would cover Akpu, Ekwulobia and Achina regions.
“We have written lots of letters in the past asking the Vatican to give us two more dioceses, Ekwulobia and Adazi. It was turned down.
We continued to push because here in Awka Diocese we have the highest number of priests and Awka is too big for person to handle even with an auxiliary bishop.
It was not easy. We are glad for this great news. We thank Pope Francis for these appointments, it is a great relief,” Ezeokafor said.
Former Anambra Governor and Vice Presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Mr. Peter Obi, described as “coming at the appointed time” the creation of the Diocese of Ekwulobia from Awka Diocese.
Obi who spoke to journalists at the Nnamdi Azikiwe international Airport, Abuja, yesterday, said he was elated at the two uplifting news nothing that it was nothing short of “divine design.”
He said any person who recalled the journey of Awka Diocese from 1978 would commend all the bishops, starting from the pioneer Bishop, Late Archbishop Albert Obiefuna, to Bishop Paulinus Ezeokafor for the development recorded in the physical and spiritual lives of the people.
Obi expressed the confidence that the new diocese would follow the trajectory of the development of the mother diocese.
“Besides being an old Bishop, Okpaleke is serious-minded, committed, disciplined and with varied pastoral experiences, both in quiet and murky waters that his success is taken for granted,” Obi said.
Obi thanked the Holy Father, Pope Benedict for remaining a worthy Sheaperd to the universal church.
