The Commissioner of Police in Anambra State, Nnanna Ama, has held a peace assembly with the embattled bishops of the Anglican Communion within the state over a disaster within the church.
The suspended Bishop of Awka Diocese, Alexander Ibezim, and the newly appointed supervising bishop of the diocese, Samuel Ezeofor, attended the assembly hung on Friday on the state police headquarters in Awka.
The police spokesperson in Anambra State, Tochukwu Ikenga, disclosed this in a commentary on Friday.
The disaster
PREMIUM TIMES earlier reported that the Primate of the Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion), Henry Ndukuba had suspended the archbishop for 6 months over quite a lot of allegations, together with promoting of church land for N2 billion.
The suspension, in line with the primate, was once to permit for clear investigations into allegations towards the archbishop and the diocese.
Mr Ndukuba additionally introduced the appointment of the Bishop of the Diocese of Aguata, Mr Ezeofor, because the supervising bishop of the church’s Diocese of Awka and coordinating bishop of the Province of the Niger.
This newspaper additionally reported that Mr Ibezim filed a lawsuit by which he challenged his suspension and a plan to self-discipline him over quite a lot of allegations, together with the marketing of the church land for N2 billion.
Then again, the Board of the Diocese of Awka, Anglican Communion, rejected the suspension of Mr Ibezim at the foundation that the verdict didn’t practice due procedure.
The board additional threatened to go out from the Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion) and rejoin the Church of England if the verdict was once no longer reversed.
Police peace assembly
Mr Ikenga, a superintendent of police, stated the police commissioner within the state held the assembly with all of the fighters at his place of work to reach peace.
“All over the assembly, the Commissioner stated the continued court docket lawsuits with regards to the subject and emphasized the significance of respecting the judicial procedure,” he stated.
The spokesperson stated the police leader
prompt the events to pursue non violent discussion and discover suitable channels inside the church’s established ecclesiastical hierarchy to unravel their variations, with out prejudice to the continued court docket lawsuits.
Mr Ama, in line with the commentary, instructed the warring bishops that parishioners and worshippers should no longer be drawn into the war of words or made to undergo the effects of variations amongst church leaders.
He known as on all involved to exhibit restraint, mutual recognize, and adulthood within the hobby of peace, solidarity, and the sanctity of worship.
The commissioner additional cautioned towards inflammatory statements, confrontational habits, and any motion able to escalating tensions or threatening public peace.
He warned that the state police command would no longer hesitate to take suitable lawful measures to stop any breach of regulation and order.
The police leader reassured the bishops of the command’s impartiality within the subject and wired that the command’s operatives would proceed to discharge their duties professionally, cope with respectable safety issues, recognize the authority of the court docket, and uphold the rights of all events based on the regulation.
“The Anambra State Police Command due to this fact calls on church leaders, parishioners, and different stakeholders to cooperate with ongoing peace efforts, recognize due procedure, and chorus from any habits able to escalating the dispute into a safety problem,” he stated.
Background
PREMIUM TIMES reviews that the peace assembly initiated via the police adopted stress on Sunday when some operatives had been deployed at St Religion Anglican Church in Awka the place Mr Ibezim reportedly officiated within the provider regardless of his suspension.
There have been reviews that the police within the state had been taking facets within the subject on account of the alleged involvement of the Deputy Governor of Anambra State, Onyekachi Ibezim.
The deputy governor is a more youthful brother to the suspended archbishop who’s on the centre of the disaster.
However the police within the state have since denied the allegations.
In a commentary on Monday, the police spokesperson in Anambra State, Mr Ikenga, described reviews suggesting that the police had been taking facets within the dispute as deceptive.
The spokesperson maintained that the presence of safety body of workers on the church will have to no longer be interpreted as an endorsement of any celebration or place within the ecclesiastical war of words.
“The Command needs to elucidate that the deployment of police body of workers to any location is guided via the wish to take care of regulation and order, save you a breakdown of peace, give protection to lives and belongings, and make sure the security of all involved, regardless of their affiliations or positions within the dispute,” he had defined.
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