War in the House of God: Members accuse Bishop of polygamy, want him removed

All is not well with the Christ Church Cathedral [Anglican Communion] Akwete, Ukwa Diocese, Ukwa East Council of Abia State. The church is presently engrossed in serious crisis which pitched members against the Bishop of the Diocese, Rt. Rev. Samuel Kelechi Eze. The crisis is rocking the very foundation of the church as the parishioners are up in arms against the Bishop. In fact, they have banned him from conducting church services or even administering the church. They are also pushing for him to vacate the Bishop’s House, his official residence.

The problem is that members of the church are accusing Bishop Eze of some wrong doings; particularly, they accused him of being a polygamist; that he has two wives who live with him in the Bishop’s Court. Other wrong doings border on maladministration of the church as well as not taking proper care of the priests working under him in the church. The matter has degenerated to the extent that the attention of the head of Anglican Church in Nigeria, the Primate, The Most Rev. Nicholas Okoh has been drawn to it. Indeed, the situation has got to the level that the Laity of Ukwa Diocese organised a protest against the Bishop.


Worried by the happenings in the church, some members wrote a petition to the Primate, urging him to intervene in the matter. In the petition dated October 17, 2017 entitled: Urgent need to intervene and save the Cathedral Church of Christ, Akwete from certain doom, the members in addition to accusing Bishop Eze of practising polygamy, alleged that he dissolved the Church Committee duly elected and set up a seven-member caretaker committee; that he runs the Cathedral purse with a priest who has been transferred out of the Cathedral for eight years and that the Bishop demoted and transferred the church’s resident canon.

Bishop Eze, however, denied all the allegations. He said all the allegations against him were trash, borne out of tribalism and selfish desires. He wondered how a Bishop would marry two wives. He said that the matter is being handled by the Primate and warned that it is an issue that could lead to serious litigation. He accused the Archbishop of the Province of Aba, Dr. Ikechi Nwosu of being the mastermind of his travails. Bishop Eze who replied to a text message sent to him, said he was out of the country and would talk more when he returned.   “How can a Bishop marry two wives”, Eze queried.

Responding to the petition, the Primate mandated the Aba Provincial Bishops under the leadership of the Archbishop, Most Rev. Ikechi Nwosu, to investigate the allegations against Bishop Eze.

Vanguard