There seems to be no end in sight in the raging feud between the Anambra State Government and the Church of Nigeria, Anglican Communion, Diocese on the Niger over the ownership of a piece of land at Nkisi Road, G.R.A. Onitsha on which Crowther Memorial Primary School stands as the duo yesterday engaged in war of words in a bid to set records straight.
It will be recalled that the priests and the laity of the Diocese had last Friday staged a peaceful demonstration to draw attention to what they called government unjust takeover of their school and the properties therein.
However, in a press statement issued at Nnewi by the Archbishop of Province of the Niger and Bishop of Nnewi Diocese, His Grace, Most Rev. Prof. Godwin Okpala, the church called on the Anambra State Government to hand over the school to the Diocese on the Niger to manage, control and administer stating that the ownership of the land which commenced in 1926 should be honored as Certified True Copies of supporting documents are available.
It however explained that the demonstration at Awka yesterday against Bishop Owen Nwokolo, Bishop of the Diocese on the Niger was not by Anglicans, but by hirelings who called themselves concerned Christian and non-Christian citizens of Anambra state co-ordinated by one Mr. Ernest Anafonye and Onyedika Nwosu as their Secretary.
The statement added that the hirelings were bent on tarnishing the image of the Anglican Church, Rt. Rev. Dr. Owen Nwokolo and the Diocese on the Niger, who were the rightful owner of the land at Nkisi Road, G.R.A. Onitsha where there is Bishop Crowther Memorial Primary School since 1926 with a duly registered document in 1927.
It went on to say that the publication in the Sunday Sun Newspapers of 4th November, 2018 authored by one Rev. Zachaeus Iloegbuna who used a pen-name, was not a priest of the Anglican Communion adding that the information therein were all false as well as the publication in the Sun Newspaper of 6th November, 2018 authored by Akajiofor it described as unfounded, false and baseless.
“The Church Missionary Society duly ensured that the school became a local authority school for the purpose of aid and grant whilst the ownership of the school and land remained the property of the Diocese on the Niger. Since 1956 Bishop Crowther Memorial School, Nkisi Road Onitsha was founded as a Local Authority School by the application of the Diocese on the Niger.
“In 2012, the Report of the State Committee on the Resolution of the disputes over the ownership of certain Primary Schools before the takeover of schools by the Government of the then East Central State in 1970 set up by His Excellency, Mr. Peter Obi under the Chairmanship of Hon Justice G.U Ononiba stated clearly that the school is an Anglican School and should be handed over to the Anglican Church which is the Diocese on the Niger. Up till now, that Report of the Committee has not been implemented despite all efforts to do so.
“The Government of Anambra State should hand over the school to the Diocese on the Niger to manage, control and administer; and the ownership of the land which commenced in 1926 should be honored as Certified True Copies of supporting documents are available”, the statement said.
In a swift reaction, the Chief Press Secretary to Governor Willie Obiano of Anambra State, Mr. James Eze observed that what was today known as Crowther Memorial Primary School used to be one of the five Onitsha Urban County Council schools before the Biafran War adding that it was renamed after the war to Crowther Memorial Primary School by the Ukpabi Asika administration even as he said that the change of name did not affect its ownership and management which was totally by the Government of Anambra State.
Eze noted that even when the previous administration handed some schools back to the Missions, Crowther Memorial Primary School was not one of those schools and had remained a government owned public school till date.
He posited that the current controversy which led to the protest was created by a certain Bishop and his wife who decided to erect the foundation for a building at Crowther Memorial Primary School without obtaining approval from the government saying that when their efforts were halted by the appropriate authorities, they incited some priests in the Diocese to stage a protest over what rightly belongs to the government even as he pointed out that some well-informed priests in the fold refused to join the protest because they knew the truth.
“It is worrisome that some priests were misled into staging a protest over a matter that is before a competent court of law at a time when the buzzword in our country is “the rule of law.” Had this Bishop rightly applied for a piece of land anywhere in the state, Anambra State Government would have been obliged to grant his request the same way it had granted a similar request by another Bishop in the Anglican Diocese of Awka.
“It has to be noted that the Government of Anambra State under Governor Willie Obiano has enjoyed very peaceful and cordial relations with all denominations of the church in Anambra State including the Pentecostals, the Anglicans and the Catholics. And more specifically, the Obiano administration has supported all the synods hosted by the Anglican Church and assisted in the hosting of all its visiting dignitaries to the state since the administration came into existence.
“In sustenance of the Mission Schools initiative, the Obiano administration has so far donated the sum of N600m to 300 schools owned by the Anglican Church in Anambra State.
“In the aspect of school infrastructure, the Obiano administration has so far constructed 82 classrooms and 4 VIP toilets in 24 compartments in Anglican schools. It has also provided 2596 units of tables and chairs these schools. All of these were achieved at an estimated cost of N168, 750,000.
“Similarly, it has donated the sum of N266m in funding to hospitals owned by the Anglican Church. Iyienu Hospital alone gulped N100m in 2014. In addition, it helped to rebuild all the internal roads in most hospitals owned by the church in the state. It has also continued to pay the salaries of teachers and offer subventions to Mission Schools.
“From the above clarifications, it is crystal clear that the Obiano administration is neither against the Diocese on the Niger nor the Anglican Church in Anambra State. Therefore, the disagreement that led to the recent protest is an isolated case where a Bishop and his wife decided to encroach on government property and still muster enough guts to incite some priests to demonstrate over a property that does not belong to them.
“Therefore, pushed against the wall, the Government of Anambra State cannot fold its hands and watch its property invaded and forcibly taken away by anybody or group of people no matter how highly placed. Nor shall the Obiano administration tolerates any attempt to intimidate; blackmail or arm-twist it into surrendering a government property to any individual or group”, he said.
While emphasizing that Anambra State had in the past five years, built up a reputation as Nigeria’s safest and most peaceful state, he therefore warned the general public to resist any attempt to cajole them into taking sides with people who were bent on breaching the peace and fomenting trouble in the state as such people shall be arrested and prosecuted according to the law.
He reiterated that there was something inherently wrong in taking to the streets to protest a case that was already in court while advising the protesting priests to give peace a chance and allow the law to take its full course as was the standard in every true democratic setting.
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