Igbo Anglicans in New Jersey, US blame Church of Nigeria for crisis rocking parish

Adeze Ojukwu

Authorities of Christ Anglican Church, Irvington, New Jersey, United State of America(USA), have berated the leadership of Church of Nigeria(CON), for its role in the crisis rocking the parish.

In a statement, signed by Senior Warden ,Ugochukwu Ochuba, Junior Warden, Chimobi Ozumba and Secretary, Obioma Achara and made available to this writer on Wednesday, CAC popularly know as "Igbo Anglicans," said it was "deeply disappointed with comments from the Church of Nigeria, after viewing the videos of the violent incident that occurred on December 4, 2022."

"The leader of CoN has so far failed to strongly condemn the sinful behavior of CoN leadership. Instead, he has described the events as ‘loud and disruptive but otherwise non-violent.’ The leadership has chosen to deliberately turn a blind eye to the numerous videos circulating social media of the event."

"How else can one describe pushing a parishioner violently into the choir stand, shoving the Rector and Senior Warden as “non-violent?"

"The trespassing party purposefully damaged Bishop Ross’s crosier. The CoN displayed their nature through the actions of their Bishop that day. In his letter of November 29, 2022, to Bishop Ross, Bishop Kanu alluded to physical confrontation if he did not cancel his Episcopal visit to CAC."

Furthermore, the embattled church, said it did "not understand CoN’s reluctance to condemn the racist and homophobic slurs directed clearly at Bishop Ross by the trespassing party."

The sad incident, which was captured in a viral video, showed some parishioners shouting and pushing some church officials, but the fracas was quelled by the police.

Independent investigations also revealed that “Bishop Ross is married and a grandfather contrary to the insinuations being spread online.”

The crises, the statement revealed, was caused by some aggrieved members, who disrupted a confirmation service.

According to the statement, the claim by CoN of a unilateral takeover of the parish, without due process” by Anglican Church in North America (ACNA) is entirely false and a lie on two counts.

"The CoN has never had any direct rights or ownership of CAC. Secondly, CAC followed its By-Laws, when it disengaged from CANA West," an affiliate of Church of Nigeria.

Full text of the statement reads:

"The leadership of CAC has seen the press release from the CoN dated December 12, 2022, and signed by The Venerable Paul Dajur and has been concerned about the liberal application of fiction contained in the press release. CAC would like to correct the factual errors communicated by the CoN.

"First, the claim that there was a unilateral takeover of the Church in Irvington by ACNA without due process” is a lie on two counts. Namely, the CoN has never had any direct rights or ownership of CAC. Secondly, CAC followed its By-Laws, when it disengaged from CANA West (Church of Nigeria). It voted overwhelmingly to leave CANA West and, by doing so, severed its relationship with CoN. Therefore, the assertion by CoN of a unilateral takeover of CAC by ACNA is entirely false.

"The leadership of CoN, in a letter dated August 1, 2022, to several rectors in the U.S. and Canada, the Primate placed the churches under what he called a “Primatial Chaplaincy.” In that letter, the Primate acknowledged that CAC has “left ADOTW for another Diocese.

"CAC is the only church on the letter with such a notation. Bishop Nathan Kanu, whom the Primate explained would be the Supervisory Bishop. Kanu later called the Rector of CAC to confirm that CAC had left ADOTW and the Church of Nigeria.

"The Rector also informed him that CAC was now under Bishop Ross. Despite their recent claims, it is clear that the CoN has been fully aware that not only did CAC properly leave the Church of Nigeria but that Bishop Ross is providing it with Episcopal oversight.

"Secondly, the leadership of CAC is deeply disappointed with comments from the CoN after viewing the videos of the violent incident that occurred on December 4, 2022. It is deeply disappointing that the leader of the CoN has so far failed to strongly condemn the sinful behavior of CoN leadership.

"Instead, he has described the events as “loud and disruptive but otherwise non-violent.” CoN leadership has chosen to deliberately turn a blind eye to the numerous videos circulating social media of the event. How else can one describe pushing a parishioner violently into the choir stand, shoving the Rector and Senior Warden as 'non-violent?'

"The trespassing party purposefully damaged Bishop Ross’s crosier. The CoN displayed their nature through the actions of their Bishop that day. In his letter of November 29, 2022, to Bishop Ross, Bishop Kanu alluded to physical confrontation if he did not cancel his Episcopal visit to CAC. Furthermore, CAC does not understand CoN’s reluctance to condemn the racist and homophobic slurs directed clearly at Bishop Ross by the trespassing party.

"A recent press release by the Chancellor of Con, H. Odein Ajumogobia, has only furthered the disinformation campaign by the CoN. CAC would like to state that it maintains a robust financial accounting system. The church has a finance committee made up of four parishioners.

"These parishioners manage the finances of the church. There is no lack of accountability amongst the leadership of CAC, as is being erroneously claimed by Ajumogobia. Ajumogobia failed to address the embarrassing and disgraceful behavior of Bishop Augustine Unuigbe and the individuals that have terrorized the members of CAC over the past year with their ungodly and sinful actions.

"The actions of The Right Reverend Augustine Unigbe should be condemned in the strongest terms by the Primate publicly. Anglican Bishops do not storm churches or “march in,” as admitted by Bishop Unigbe, and attempt to seize a church or halt the service when it is well underway.

"They do not generally act the way Bishop Unigbe did. In his bizarre “Brief Explanation,” Bishop Unigbe failed to substantiate his assertion that these individuals, whose stock-in-trade has constantly been disrupting church service, were locked out or prevented from worshipping.

“Bishop Unuigbe claimed that with “multiple calls coming in, I responded and showed up.” However, Bishop Unigbe’s church is about two and a half hours from CAC, making it highly unlikely that he would suddenly show up at CAC to attend a service to which he was not invited.

"Bishop Unuigbe’s own church announcement on that day about his absence proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that his trip to CAC was clearly premeditated and not as sudden as he now wants people to believe. Again, CAC maintains and videos show that Bishop Unigbe led the mob in their violent action. Videos taken by the mob he led showed Bishop Unuigbe shoving a parishioner, disgracing the office to which he has been called.

"CAC is astounded and perplexed by the continued and sustained interference by the CoN in its affairs and deeply disappointed by the ongoing disinformation campaign that the CoN has been conducting to protect the disgraceful actions of one of its Bishops.

“CAC is not the only church in the U.S. and Canada that severed its affiliation with CoN. Yet CAC is the only church singled out for this kind of unjust treatment, the show of force, and systematic intimidation. CoN is doing a lot of harm to the Christian mission upon which CAC was founded. Parishioners are fearful of when these individuals will act again, and the ungodly actions of the distractors are damaging the public witness for the Gospel of Christ in our community.

"Because of the failure of the CoN to call these individuals to order and allow the church of God to worship freely in peace, CAC is fully cooperating with local and federal law enforcement officials to ensure that the parishioner’s constitutional rights will be protected and defended.

"Finally, CAC would like to thank the ACNA, Archbishop Foley Beach, Bishop Ken Ross and the Diocese of the Rocky Mountains, Bishop Derek Jones, and the Anglican Office for Government and International Affairs for their continued spiritual support and guidance during this challenging time. CAC will surely overcome, and the church of God will continue to march on."

“They will fight against you, but they shall not prevail against you. For I am with you,” says the Lord, “to deliver you.” Jeremiah. 1:19.


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What to do, church in Nigeria is always about money bringing misunderstanding among themselves