The Primate of the Church of Nigeria has ordered the Most Rev. Alexander Ibezim, Archbishop of the Province of the Niger and Bishop of Awka, to stand aside from his see for six months while the church investigates claims that he sold diocesan land without authority. Archbishop Ibezim has answered with a lawsuit. The dispute has simmered for more than a year in the parish halls of Anambra State, the anti-corruption office in Enugu and the Awka High Court, and it has now reached the leadership of the largest province of the Anglican Communion.
In a letter dated Tuesday, Oct. 13, 2026, the Most Rev. Henry Ndukuba, Archbishop, Metropolitan and Primate of All Nigeria, told Archbishop Ibezim that he stood “at the centre of various allegations and which unfortunate events have called to question the integrity and reputation of the Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion).” Citing the reports of “various Administrative Panels set up to look into the events in the Diocese,” Archbishop Ndukuba wrote: “We, hereby direct you to proceed on leave with effect from the date of this letter, for a period of six (6) months, in the first instance, or such other reviewed periods we may consider.” The panels he named included a visitation team led by the Dean of the Church of Nigeria, whose reports he said had been “submitted and duly considered.” He also referred to a meeting the two men held on Friday, Oct. 9, on the visitation team’s report.
On the same day, Archbishop Ibezim filed an originating summons in the High Court of Anambra State, Awka Judicial Division. The papers bear the court’s stamp of Oct. 13, 2026, and name the Primate and the Dean, the Most Rev. Blessing Enyindah, as defendants. The archbishop contends that “no charge has been brought against me and no trial has taken place,” and that the Primate has no power to remove him by letter. The Church of Nigeria now faces an open legal contest between its senior archbishop and one of its provincial metropolitans.
The letter was not published by the Church of Nigeria. It reached the public on the morning of Oct. 16, when Anambra Broadcasting Service, the state broadcaster, [posted a report by Emmanuel Chigbata to its Facebook page at 10:09 a.m. A scan of the first page of the letter appeared later that day in a comment by the Anambra news page. By Saturday, Nigerian national accounts on X were carrying the story to tens of thousands of readers under headlines saying the Primate had “suspended” the archbishop.
The letter itself avoids that word. The Primate invoked Section 29(1) of Chapter V of the Church of Nigeria’s 2020 Constitution and Canons, “granting the Primate the general authority and supervision over the whole Church of Nigeria, and all inherent powers vested on the Primate.” He said he was “minded to take certain administrative measures to allow a fair and thorough investigation into the allegations, and for restoration of peace and reconciliation in the Diocese of Awka.” According to Premium Times and Anambra Broadcasting Service, the letter goes on to say that the directive is an administrative measure and not a disciplinary sanction. That passage is on a second page, which has not been published.
The practical effect of the directive is plain. The Rt. Rev. Samuel Ezeofor, Bishop of Aguata, was named Supervising Bishop of the Diocese of Awka and Coordinating Bishop of the Province of the Niger, to “assume and exercise all episcopal responsibilities and oversight” of both. Archbishop Ibezim was told to hand over to Bishop Ezeofor “immediately.” He may not officiate at any activity of the Church of Nigeria, the Province of the Niger or the Diocese of Awka while on leave. Copies went to the church’s chancellor and registrar, the Provincial Council of the Niger and the Awka Diocesan Board.
The letter does not set out the allegations or the visitation team’s findings. Premium Times reported that one allegation was that Archbishop Ibezim sold church land worth ₦2 billion without authorization. The petition that began the affair put the sum at more than ₦752 million.
Archbishop Ibezim’s answer runs to 130 pages, filed as Suit No. A/371/2026. His originating summons describes the Dean as “Chairman of Visitation Team to the Diocese of Awka illegally constituted by the 1st Defendant vide letter dated 17/6/2026.” It asks for a series of declarations. The first two are that the procedure for disciplining a serving diocesan bishop is spelled out in Sections 55, 75 and 76 of the constitution and in Canon XVI, and must be “strictly complied with” before any sanction is imposed, and that “at least one of the ten offences specifically listed” in Canon XVI “must be proved before any form of disciplinary measure or sanction is imposed on the Plaintiff.”
The summons goes further. It asks the court to declare that the Primate “lacks the power, authority, and competence to orally, or in writing, or in any manner whatsoever, query, suspend, dismiss, remove, retire or demand the retirement or resignation” of the archbishop. It also asks the court to find unlawful what it calls “the threats made by the Primate … acting in collaboration with the Dean … against the Plaintiff on 9th October, 2026, to arrest and detain him and to suspend, remove, retire or dismiss the Plaintiff from his offices.” Under Section 4 of Canon X, it argues, Archbishop Ibezim “is entitled to remain in office as the Bishop of the Diocese of Awka … until he attains the age of 70 (seventy) years.” He seeks injunctions barring the defendants, and “any organ or body or committee of the Church of Nigeria,” from acting against him while the case is pending.
His supporting affidavit gives his own account of the Oct. 9 meeting, as summarized by TheNigeriaLawyer. Archbishop Ibezim says the Primate told him he had “performed very well” as Bishop of Awka, and that the visitation team had found nothing more serious than “administrative errors.” The Primate nonetheless told him he “must punish” him, the archbishop says, and offered two choices: a four-month suspension, or nine more months in office followed by compulsory retirement. He says he was given until Oct. 19 to decide. When he asked under what canon either penalty could be imposed, he says, none was cited. The letter placing him on leave is dated six days before that deadline.
The affidavit is equally pointed about the inquiries that came before. Archbishop Ibezim says he appeared before a Panel of Inquiry convened by the Primate on Aug. 13, 2025. He objected to its competence but gave evidence anyway, and he says the complainant never appeared and the panel’s report was withheld from him. He describes the visitation team set up on June 17, 2026, before which he appeared on July 23, as an “inquisition” that required him to disprove the charges against him. He says neither report was laid before the Episcopal Synod, the Standing Committee or the General Synod, as he maintains the canons required. He attributes the proceedings to “mischief, envy, wickedness and hatred for no just cause.”
These are sworn assertions by a party to litigation, and they have not been tested in court. The Church of Nigeria has not publicly responded to the archbishop’s account of the Oct. 9 meeting.
The case goes back to the summer of 2025. On July 28 of that year, Chief G. Tagbo Ike, SAN, petitioned the Enugu zonal office of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on behalf of Prince Echezona Bonti Onuigbo, a member of St. Faith’s Cathedral, Awka. The petition argued that church land was vested in the Registered Trustees and could not be sold by the bishop alone. It alleged that Archbishop Ibezim “has single-handedly been selling the lands of the Church, in total disregard to the Constitution and Canons of the church”. The parcels in question lay at Ifite Awka, Amansea and the Ngozika Estate. The petition drew in part on material gathered by the former diocesan registrar, Chris Adimora. It said the sales had been made without the knowledge of the diocesan chancellor, the retired Justice O.J. Okeke reported [247 Ureports.
The diocese closed ranks behind its bishop. At an emergency meeting on Aug. 18, 2025, the Awka Diocesan Board unanimously dismissed the petition as “false, baseless” and “politically motivated.” It denied that more than ₦752 million in sale proceeds had passed through the archbishop’s personal account. Diocesan officials said that every land document required the signatures of the Incorporated Trustees, who are the bishop, the chancellor and the clerical synod secretary. They said the sales had been approved on the advice of the diocese’s investment and land committees to keep the property out of the hands of land grabbers, and that the money had gone into “monumental projects”. In September 2025, 279 diocesan clergy signed a communiqué pledging their “absolute loyalty” to the archbishop.
The dispute soon claimed two diocesan officers. Archbishop Ibezim dismissed Justice Okeke as chancellor with effect from Aug. 21, 2025, and removed Mr. Adimora. In protest, the retired Justice Pete Obiora resigned as chancellor of the Province of the Niger and of the Diocese of Aguata. Five days later, on Aug. 26, the general secretary of the Church of Nigeria, the Ven. Gershinen Paul Dajur, announced an independent panel chaired by a retired judge to examine “allegations of financial impropriety involving one of our Bishops.” He said: “The Church is greater than any individual”.
The secular courts moved alongside the church’s inquiries. In late September 2025, a vacation judge of the Anambra State High Court, Justice F.I. Aniukwu, granted an interim order barring the EFCC from arresting the archbishop The Cable reported. The following month the commission told the court it would suspend action on the petition until the suit was decided. That case has since stalled. In June 2026, the archbishop’s counsel asked that the matter be moved to another judge, citing “perceived bias,” and the petitioner’s counsel called the request a delay tactic. Justice Ike Ogu returned the file to the state’s Chief Judge to be reassigned, and the EFCC inquiry has remained frozen.
Archbishop Ibezim was consecrated Bishop of Awka in 2010 and installed as Archbishop of the Niger in 2019. He was re-elected to the provincial office in February 2025, five months before the petition reached the EFCC.
Online reaction in Anambra has run strongly in the Primate’s favor. The Anambra Broadcasting Service post drew more than 1,600 reactions and 1,300 comments within a day. “Our Church is a Church of order. This administrative leave is for peace, fair hearing and reconciliation as stated by the Primate,” read the most widely endorsed comment. The archbishop has defenders as well. “In all my over thirty years in the Anglican communication, I have never heard of a thing like this,” one commenter wrote beneath a post sharing the court papers.
No criminal charge has been filed against Archbishop Ibezim, and no church tribunal has found him guilty of any offence. Under the summons, the Primate and the Dean have 42 days from service to enter an appearance. The High Court has not yet ruled on the archbishop’s motion for an injunction. Until it does, the Diocese of Awka has a supervising bishop installed by the Primate’s letter and a diocesan bishop who says the canons entitle him to remain until his 70th birthday, and it is not clear which of them the diocese will follow.