IS ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP OF NNEWI SUPERIOR TO NIGERIAN COURT RULING ?(A case of Holy desecration)

  

It is not every day that a Pastor, Minister, Reverend, Reverend Father, Bishop or any man of God forays into litigation with one of the congregants, except where the Church is fighting for its existence or on behalf of one of its members. Rarely do we witness a church encroaching into the land of one of its members so defiantly that even a court order could not serve as a deterrence. 

One of our correspondents in Nnewi was availed with a certified true copy of a court order from Nnewi High Court 1, where the court issued an interlocutory injunction against Most Reverend  Jonas Benson Okoye of the Nnewi Catholic Diocese and the Trustees of Nnewi Diocese, in a suit filed by His Royal Highness, Igwe Barrister/Attorney Alphonsus Ezeoke, the Igwe of Amichi. 

In the suit titled: HRH Igwe Dr. Alphonsus Ezeoke and Most Rev. Jonas Benson Okoye and Incorporated Trustees of Nnewi Catholic Diocese, with Suit No. HN/103/2022, Igwe Ezeoke urged the court to restrain the bishop and the Trustees of Nnewi Catholic Diocese from encroaching on the land named popularly as “Agu Ugilinze”, that is located in Amichi, Nnewi South Local Government of Anambra State. 

In the suit, Igwe Ezeoke Amichi claimed that his father owned the land via a Supreme Court judgment delivered under Suit No. FSC/27/61, which was awarded by the Supreme Court in 1961 to Alphonsus Ezeoke, the late father of the current Igwe Amichi.

In the Supreme Court judgment, which our correspondence read, the Supreme Court clearly stated that Alphonsus Ezeoke was granted the entire “Ugilinze Land.” In some of the Supreme Court documents, Late Nwafor Orizu testified that the land belonged to Umeorimili. Jeremiah Nnakenyi, Henry Nwosu, etc, testified that the land belonged to Umeorimili. There was not a testimony even mentioning the Catholic Church in the documents we read. The Catholic Church never entered or claimed the land until Bishop Jonas Benson Okoye was ordained the Bishop of Nnewi Diocese. A phone call to the Bishop directed our correspondent to call Rev. Fr. Izunwa, who refused to answer our calls. This is a complete mess. 

In the suit pending in Nnewi High Court, Igwe Ofobuike Ezeoke alleged that the Catholic Church, under the currently bishopship of Jonas Benson Okoye, decided to flex its muscular machismo, by forcefully entering the land and claiming that the land belonged to the Catholic church, in total reversal of the Supreme Court judgment. 

The case is still pending in Nnewi High Court, and under a sustained interlocutory injunction ordered by the court restraining the Bishop and the Catholic Diocese from further entering the land. Bishop Okoye mobilized even more than 100 men on the site, with clear order to continue erecting buildings on the land. The buildings are erected almost weekly. The land now looks like a luxurious estate. Amichi people are irate that a Bishop in Nnewi could easily invade Amichi, and claim that Amichi land belongs to the Diocese without presenting any evidence of ownership.

Our correspondent in Nnewi reviewed the Statement of Defence filed by Bishop Benson Okoye, and could only find a survey conducted by some families in Nnewi in 1986, claiming that the land belonged to Nnewi people. Bishop Benson Okoye also attached a document purportedly written and signed by one reverend father from Umeorimili family allegedly gifting Igwe Ofobuike’s land to the Bishop. There was no other document provided by the Bishop to trump the 1961 Supreme Court judgment tendered by Igwe Ezeoke to the Court to establish his clear ownership of the land. 

If the only evidence that the Bishop presented to the court is a letter from Rev. Father Ferdinand  Ume-Ezeoke, who is a Catholic priest under the Bishop and the Diocese, and a survey conducted by some families in Nnewi as evidence of ownership of the land, then Bishop Okoye is not the owner of the land and must discontinue the current incursion into the land. 

Taunting the Igwe of Amichi, and encroaching on his land, while claiming that the court cannot stop him because the governor of Anambra state, His Excellency, Professor Charles Soludo is aware of the Bishop’s trespass into the land owned by one of his flocks, is shameful and reckless. 

A short visit to the land located at Onusologu junction of Nnewi, Amichi, Utuh, Awka-Etiti, reveals a tremendous covert, adverse, and forceful possession of over 100 plots of land that had been in existence and undeveloped since the 1961 judgement, except the occupation of Lepers at the Leprosarium. The place was used to house Lepers in the olden days, until most recently when the Lepers were chased away by Bishop Benson upon his enthronement as the Bishop of Nnewi Diocese. 

The lawsuit alleged that the Bishop would appear in person and threaten to physically fight anyone who dared to stop his intrusion into the land. At one instance, as stated in the suit, the Bishop and Amichi Youths were engaged in altercation that was only stopped by some sane Reverend Fathers at the site, who begged the Youths not to let the Bishop bait them into a fight with a man of God. The youths exercised some restraint but went home disillusioned and mentally wounded by the disappointing actions of the Bishop of a Catholic church, whom they held so highly. 

We urge the Bishop and any of his advisers to approach Bishop Benson Okoye and call him to order. Bully tactics never work. Using the funds voluntarily donated by church members to fight one of the church members will have a chilling effect on membership. The buildings currently existing on the land exceeds 8. There is no reason that a Bishop would erect so much building on someone’s land and dares the person to do something about it. No reasonable person would invest that amount of money on a land where he cannot produce a single document of ownership. 

This cannot continue. There is a need for reason here.