The Diocese of Awka has rejected the Church of Nigeria’s suspension of its bishop, the Most Rev. Alexander Chibuzo Ibezim, threatened to withdraw from the national church, and ordered its institutions to disregard the authority of the appointed supervising bishop. In response, the Rt. Rev. Samuel C. Ezeofor has removed the diocesan chancellor who signed the defiant communique.
In a 16 October 2026 communique, the Awka Diocesan Board rejected the directive of the Most Rev. Henry C. Ndukuba, Archbishop, Metropolitan and Primate of All Nigeria, that Archbishop Ibezim take six months’ compulsory leave. It also rejected Bishop Ezeofor’s appointment as supervising Bishop of Awka and coordinating bishop of the Province of the Niger.
In a 17 October letter, Bishop Ezeofor informed Sir B.E.I. Nwofor, SAN, that he had been removed as Chancellor of the Diocese of Awka with immediate effect. The letter was issued on diocesan letterhead from the office of the supervising bishop and copied to the Primate, the Church of Nigeria’s Chancellor, and its Registrar.
Bishop Ezeofor said Nwofor’s “ignoble and unfortunate activities” concerning events in the diocese had used the chancellor’s office to undermine the Primate’s authority and “flout lawful directive of the Church authority.” He said these acts were intended to bring the Church of Nigeria into disrepute and rendered Nwofor unfit to remain chancellor under the Primate-led Church of Nigeria.
The letter instructed Nwofor to hand over all diocesan properties and documents in his possession to the legal secretary. It was signed by Bishop Ezeofor as “Supervising Bishop, Diocese of Awka.”
Nwofor had signed the previous day’s diocesan communique as Lord Chancellor, alongside the Synod Secretary, Ven. K.E.N. Chukwukamma, and Lay Synod Secretary Eugene Chukwudi Okonkwo.
The diocesan board stated that it would not recognize the directive placing Archbishop Ibezim on leave, and it affirmed that he remained Bishop of Awka and Archbishop of the Province of the Niger. It instructed the organs of the diocese to remain loyal to Ibezim, proceed with their lawful activities, and reject “any interference or directive” from Bishop Ezeofor.
The board said that if the Primate and Bishop Ezeofor continued to threaten the peace of Awka Diocese, interfere unlawfully in its affairs, or threaten Archbishop Ibezim, the diocese “shall withdraw from the Church of Nigeria and continue with Church of England which never disturbed the Diocese.”
The communique also warned that the board would invoke the law and law-enforcement agencies if its warning were disregarded. The document does not state that a withdrawal has taken place; it announces a conditional threat of separation.
The Awka board said the Primate’s action and Bishop Ezeofor’s appointment should not have been made while litigation involving allegations against Archbishop Ibezim remained pending before the High Court of Anambra State. It cited proceedings against the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, the Inspector-General of Police and others, and the Primate and another respondent.
The board argued that neither the 2020 Constitution and Canons of the Church of Nigeria nor the 2023 Constitution and Regulations of the Diocese of Awka authorized the Primate to compel Ibezim to take leave or appoint another bishop to supervise the diocese and province. It further maintained that Section 29(1), invoked in the Primate’s 13 October letter, did not confer those powers.
These are the assertions of the diocesan board. Bishop Ezeofor’s letter, however, treats the Primate’s direction as lawful and bases Nwofor’s removal on his opposition to it.
The diocesan board declared that no money belonging to Awka Diocese had been “missing, stolen, misused, or misappropriated” by Archbishop Ibezim. It further said that two panels appointed by the Primate had not disclosed an indictment for financial wrongdoing, while alleging that their reports had not been released.
The board expressed confidence in Archbishop Ibezim’s honesty and leadership and commended him for what it called major infrastructural development in the diocese.
The dismissal of the chancellor turns the dispute from a disagreement over Archbishop Ibezim’s compulsory leave into a contest for immediate control of Awka’s diocesan administration. Nwofor’s removal was grounded in his resistance to the Primate’s directive, while the communique he signed expressly instructed the diocese to reject Bishop Ezeofor’s authority.
The contending documents leave the Diocese of Awka with competing claims of authority: the diocesan board recognizes Archbishop Ibezim and rejects the supervising bishop, whereas Bishop Ezeofor asserts that the Primate’s directive remains binding and has acted to remove an officer leading resistance to it.