RELIGIOUS PROTEST: Imo Youths lock-out Bishop-Elect

The youths of Ahiara community in
Ahiazu Mbaise Local Government Area
of Imo State yesterday locked the
Catholic Cathedral to protest the
ordination of Monsignor Peter
Okpalaeke as the Bishop of Ahiara
Diocese.
Okpalaeke, who is from Anambra State,
was appointed bishop-elect of the
diocese by former Pope Benedict XVI
last December after the death of the
pioneer bishop of the diocese, Victor
Chikwe.
But while ordination was going on, the
priests and Catholic faithful including
the youths from the diocese, who
preferred an indigene of Mbaise as
bishop of the diocese, said the bishop-
elect would not be allowed in the
diocese.
The youths, who took over the church,
locked up the entrance gate to the
cathedral where the newly ordained
bishop was to begin his 10- year
tenure as the bishop of Ahiara Diocese.
The protesters, who disrupted vehicular
and human movement in the area,
vowed not to allow the bishop access
into the cathedral, insisting that the
diocese would remain without a bishop
for the next 10 years. Some of
protesters told journalists that "we will
not allow this injustice. We don't want
the bishop who is not from our
community.
That is all we are saying and we are
ready to fight to finish". Despite the
protesters' threat, Pope Francis directed
Catholic authorities yesterday to ordain
the bishopelect.
The ordination, which was carried out
amid tight security at the Seat of
Wisdom Seminary in Ulakwo in Owerri
North Local Government Area, was held
several miles away from the Ahiara
Diocese.
This, according to a source, was to
prevent the breakdown of law and
order. However, many Catholic faithful
and other dignitaries within and
outside the country, including John
Cardinal Onaiyekan, the archbishop of
Abuja, attended the ordination. In his
sermon, the Catholic Bishop of Umuahia
Archdiocese, Lucius Ugorji, said: "Only
the Pope has the final say in the
appointment of bishops.
There is no provision for quota system
in the appointment of bishops."
According to him, the acceptance of the
appointment is a respect for the Pope,
while rejection, inflammatory
statements and protests are spiteful
and disrespectful to the Papal authority.
Ugorji urged the people to work with
the new bishop for the progress of the
diocese.