The selection of Rt Rev Cyril Okorocha’s successor as the Anglican Bishop of Owerri Anglican Diocese, is tearing the church apart, Sunday Nigerian Horn can authoritatively reveal.

It was gathered that some parishioners including clerics have raised alarm over the alleged plot by some highly placed personalities in the Diocese to scuttle the process of electing/selecting who succeeds Okorocha as he retires any time soon.

Sunday Nigerian Horn was informed by a top priest in the Diocese who pleaded anonymity for fear of victimization, that the retiring Bishop has allegedly tipped Venerable Zion Ngoka to succeed him.

Another cleric who spoke to our reporter on Wednesday also alleged that the Primate, Nicholas Oko, has perfected plans to draft the Bishop of Okigwe South, Rt Rev David O.C. Onuoha to replace Bishop Okorocha.


Sunday Nigerian Horn learnt that most of the priest and parishioners have vowed to resist the alleged plot to transfer a bishop from Okigwe Zone to head the Owerri Diocese.

Meanwhile, the social media has been awash since Friday with a release purportedly written by concerned group of Owerri Knights with Sir Johnson Okorie ascribed as the writer.

The purported release reads:

We bring you greetings from Owerri Diocese of the Anglican Communion .

We the concerned Knights, as responsible and responsive elders of the Anglican Church in Owerri have decided to use different media channels to sound a note of warning to the leadership of the Anglican Church in Nigeria about the impending but avoidable leadership crisis that may result from a faulty change of leadership of Owerri Diocese following the imminent retirement of Bishop C.C Okorocha .

We want to put it on record that an Owerri indigene has not headed the Diocese since inception. There is a groundswell of opinion among Owerri people that the next Bishop of the Diocese must be an Owerri indigene or else, they will never cooperate with the next Bishop of the Diocese.

We are concerned about the undercurrent of rumors of Bishop Cyril Okorocha’s preference of a particular candidate, who even though from Owerri is already seen as an imposition.

We are also aware of another candidate who is being positioned to take over from Bishop Cyril Okorocha -Bishop David Onuoha, an indigene of Okigwe South of IMO state. We are particularly concerned that our dear Primate has been surreptitiously recruited by these entrenched interests to facilitate the appointment of Bishop Onuoha as the next Bishop of Owerri.

The appointment of a Bishop is an exercise we believe should be driven by the Holy Spirit and not by the overriding self-serving interest of a cabal in the Anglican Communion. We call on our Primate to duly exercise his mandate as the leader of Anglicans in Nigeria to do the right thing. We do not have any preferred candidate in mind, but, would not want Bishop Onuoha or any Owerri diocese man Bishop Okorocha wants to replace him. We only demand that justice be done by way of having an Owerri man as the next Bishop of Owerri that will be answerable to members of the Diocese and not some entrenched external or even internal interests.

At this juncture, let us draw lessons from the crisis that has bedeviled the Catholic Church in Ahiazu Mbaise Diocese in IMO state. We cannot afford to trade the peaceful atmosphere in which Owerri Diocese has thrived for a crisis -ridden environment that will not serve to advance the Kingdom of God in Owerri Diocese.


Lets see how tomorrow will b like

May God bless their resolution

As Christians, there are things we should post on the media. Even if it is bad, we should be able to resolve them amiably