‘Okpaleke Can’t Be Bishop Of Ahiara’ – Thousands Of Imo Diocese Members Oppose Pope

No fewer than 3, 000 faithful of Ahiara Diocese of the Catholic Church on Saturday converged on the Mater Ecclesiae cathedral, Mbaise in Imo State, for a rally to restate their total rejection of the embattled Bishop Peter Ebele Okpaleke.

Bishop Okpaleke, was appointed Bishop of Ahiara by then-Pope Benedict XVI in 2012, but has been unable to take control of the diocese because of protests by the majority of priests.

Okpaleke was later ordained a bishop in May 2013. The ordination took place not in the Ahiara diocese but at a seminary in the Archdiocese of Owerri.

But the priest​s​ argued and still contend that Ahiara is in Mbaise, a predominantly Catholic region of Imo State and that Bishop Okpaleke was brought from neighbouring Anambra State.

In reaction to their opposition, Pope Francis gave the defiant priests 30-day ultimatum, which expires July 9, to write a letter to apologize for their opposition, promise obedience to authority and accept the bishop appointed for their diocese.

At the weekend, the diocesan youths, clad in black attire, chanted solidarity songs to reaffirm their support for the position taken by the Ahiara Diocese clerics and the laity council’s to rejection of Okpaleke.

Punch reports that other Catholic men and women who dressed in different church uniforms, also participated in the rally, which started with a rosary procession round the cathedral.

Addressing the congregation, President of the Diocesan Laity Council, Mr. Gerald Anyanwu noted that the people of Mbaise were not against the Supreme Pontiff, Pope Francis I, but were against the irregularities and injustices allegedly perfected against the people of the diocese in the selection of the bishop.

Anyanwu insisted that Okpaleke was forced on them, and that he was not a priest “incardinated in the Ahiara Presbyterian.”

“There was no time we insisted that the bishop of the diocese must be an Mbaise son, but the prelate must be a priest incardinated in the diocese. We shall accept any bishop whether an Hausa man or a Yoruba man as far as he is incardinated in Ahiara Diocese.”

He frowned against the activities of the Nigeria representatives of the church in Rome and urged them (cardinals) in the Vatican city to urgently look into the case of the Ahiara Diocese.

In his remarks, Provincial Ambassador, Laity Council of Owerri Ecclesiastical Province, Mr. Lawrence Opara, dismissed as propaganda, reports that the Mbaise priests would be sanctioned by the Pope if the agitation continued.

Opara, who is also the Secretary, Ahiara Diocese Laity Council, wondered why the case was different and difficult to resolve since it started in 2012.

He said, “This is time of propaganda but the truth must be told. They gave us a bishop by hook and crook means. We cannot accept him.

“It is biblical that if a priest is given to a people of God and he is rejected, he should go and be assigned to another people, who will accept him.”

Opara described the rumour that the Mbaise priests would be sanctioned as false, maintaining that no priest had been derobed without his bishop’s consent and approval.

The traditional ruler of Okirika-Ama, Umuokirika in Ahiazu Mbaise Local Government Area, HRH Eze Dominic Okoro, also faulted the claims that some traditional rulers from Mbaise visited the Pope in the Vatican.

He said, “Those people they said went to Rome to see the Pope were not our true representatives. Those who went from Nigeria deceived the Pope by telling him that they were the representatives of the Diocese.

“I am a traditional ruler and in the way we conduct our traditional institution, no royal father would leave for the Vatican City without all the Ezes knowing.

“We are not in any way against the authority of the Pope, but what we are fighting is injustice, corruption and evil among other vices in the Catholic Church.” (DailyPost)

Photos: Ex-Gov Of Yobe State, And Current Senator Bukar Abbah Ibrahim Caught In Sex Scandal With Two Ladies

According to Sahara Reporters Former Governor of Yobe state, and current Senator Bukar Abbah Ibrahim of Yobe East caught has just been involved in a sex scandal with two ladies, they posted these photos on twitter with the below caption;

Former Governor of Yobe state, and current Senator Bukar Abbah Ibrahim of Yobe East caught in sex scandal with two ladies

Adeboye, Oyedepo Order Christian Students To Boycott Arabic Studies’ Classes

The G.O of RCCG, Pastor Adeboye; Living Faith Church, Bishop Oyedepo; TREM, Bishop Mike Okonkwo; Deeper Life Church, Pastor W.F Kumuyi among others, have ordered Christian students across the country not to attend Arabic Studies classes following the reports that the subject has been made compulsory in schools.

Rev. (Dr.) Mercy Ezekiel, the National Coordinator of Christian Pentecostal Mission (CPM), Pastor Wale Oke and the G.O of the Thronegrace Mission, Pastor Emmanuel Nuhu Kure, were also present at the meeting.

The Christian leaders called for immediate reversal of the revised Basic Education Curriculum, insisting that Christian Religious Studies (CRS) should stand on its own and not be part of an omnibus subject known as Religion and National Values.

The top pastors spoke, last week, after a meeting in Lagos under the auspices of the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria (PFN). They explained that the FG has no right to force any Nigerian student at any level to study Arabic Studies.

Articulating the position of the Fellowship, Omobude, who is also the PFN National President, Oyedepo, Okonkwo and Wale Oke urged Christian students in any part of the country to resist such imposition, stressing that “we are aware of orchestrated plans to subtly use this policy as a means of forceful religious indoctrination and we maintain our stand against it.”

Oyedepo added: “Government has no right to force subjects on any any Nigerian child neither does it have the authority to drop Christian Religious Studies at the Senior Secondary School level while asking him/her to continue to read Islamic Studies which he/she cannot do at university level.”

“I Married As A Virgin, It Is Saddening That Premarital Sex Has Taken Over” – Actress Biodun Okeowo

In a recent chat with Vanguardngr, the actress, while condemning premarital sex, said: “Yes, I did and I can boldly say that,” she declared. She then went on to bemoan the spate of pre-marital sex among the youths these days, saying it is not a good sign for the future.

“It is saddening that premarital sex has taken over our time. In the past, most of our men would disassociate themselves from girls who have been deflowered outside wedlock. .

Then, a woman’s virginity was her pride but time has changed and human beings have changed. I am not happy about it. Maybe we should blame civilisation or modernisation for this. .

I pray for God’s intervention in this era,” she said. Describing her first encounter with sex, she said: “My first experience was full of fear, uncertainty, pain and alas! I loved it at the end”

Evans’ Lawyer Loses Court Case, To Pay N500,000 Fine

The lawyer standing for kidnap kingpin, Chukwudumeme Onwuamadike, aka Evans, has lost yet another case in court.

Evans’ counsel, Olukoya Ogungbeje, was defeated on Friday, when Justice Ibrahim Buba of the Federal High Court in Lagos dismissed two fundamental rights applications filed by him, according to an online medium, NewsMakers.

Ogungbeje had reportedly filed the case on behalf of his clients, Messrs Chief Kenneth Chukwuemeka Ajoku and Chidinma Ozurumba, against the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, but it was dismissed for lack of merit and for being frivolous.

The judge also awarded a total cost of N500,000 against the two petitioners.

Other respondents in Ajoku’s suit are a Lagos-based lawyer, Mr. Taiwo Kupolati, Folorunsho Sholanke, Jide Olaleye, Abraham Ogunleye, Kolade Akinwunmi and Dr. Ishaku Danladi Msheliza.

The two petitioners, in suits marked FHC/L/CS/736/2017 and FHC/L/CS 803/2017, had urged the court to declare that the arrest and detention by the operatives and agents of EFCC on May 4, at the instigation of other respondents for taking up the brief of his client and without cause, was “illegal, wrongful, unlawful, and unconstitutional as it violates the applicant’s fundamental rights as guaranteed under sections 33, 34, 35 and 36 of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.”

Responding to the suits, the EFCC, in two separate counter-affidavits deposed to by Ayodele Samuel and Makinde Adebayo, and argued before the court by Banjo James, urged the judge to refuse the applicants’ applications for being frivolous and lacking in merit.

Delivering judgment on the two applications on Friday, Justice Buba, while dismissing the two applications for lacking in merit and being frivolous, awarded a total cost of N500,000 against the two applicants in favour of the EFCC and other respondents.

Two weeks ago, Ogungbeje filed such fundamental rights suit against police authorities in a bid to set Evans free, claiming that the police illegally detained the suspect who had made a series of televised confessions on how he had kidnapped his victims and kept them for as long as seven months until their families coughed out as much as $1m.

A victim’s son had revealed that his 86-year-old father was killed by Evans and his gang after he had paid a huge ransom.

Mexican Mayor Ties The Knot With A Beautiful Female Crocodile In A Lavish Wedding Ceremony

Victor Aguilar, the Mayor of San Pedro Huamelula, took a crocodile to be his wife in the southern region of Oaxaca on Friday, as part of an indigenous tradition intended to bring good fortune to local fishermen. .

The female crocodile was baptised on Thursday, and was subsequently dressed in a white robe and had her jaws clamped shut on the big day. .

Tradition demands the Mayor of San Pedro Huamelula marry a new crocodile each year, as legend has it that the ceremony will bring fishermen luck in fishing. .

Aguilar said: ‘With this ritual we ask for a good harvest, for the sea and the lagoons to give us all the food we need and we ask that everything goes well with everyone here.’

“Our Brothers Arrested With Nnamdi Kanu, Have Been Abandoned And Forgotten” – Facebook user

Facebook user Tochukwu Ifeduba has just called out nnamdi kanu for abandoning his biafran colleagues who were arrested alongside with him;

Our Brothers arrested with Nnamdi Kanu abandoned and forgotten . They were brought to court Yesterday not even a single IPOB Nnamdi member was in court to show solidarity as usual . Real Freedom Fighters do not abandon his men at the battle field the captain should be the last to leave the ship .