The Bishop of the Nigerian diocese of Lokoja withdrew the ordination certificates of four men he ordained as deacons on July 12, after it was revealed that he had been presented with allegedly falsified documents claiming the men were qualified for the orders sacred.
In a statement issued on July 30, Bishop Martin Dada Olorunmolu revoked the certificates of the four men and suspended their activities as “deacons.”
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After the ordinations, it was learned that everything that was presented to Bishop Olorunmolu—including the existence of the congregation to which the men supposedly belonged, called the “Missionaries of the Paraclete,” as well as the superior general of the congregation— It was fraudulent.
The men involved in the alleged forgery were identified as Aloysius Kubiatabasi Ebong, Francis Mario Daudu, Nkemaka Charles Chukwudi and Emmanuel Chukwudum Ezeh.
“I was deceived,” said the bishop.
“Because of so much falsehood regarding the aforementioned diaconal ordination, I hereby decree that… The ‘diaconal ordination certificates’ issued by me to the four men named above are withdrawn with immediate effect,” the bishop’s statement said. “They should not be recognized by any ecclesiastical authority or by any other authority, including civil ones.”
Bishop Olorunmolu said that all faculties inherent to being ordained deacons “are suspended with immediate effect” and for “an indeterminate period of time.”
The bishop explained that he ordained the men at the request of a “Reverend Father Stephen Obioma Nwaigwe,” who presented himself before the bishop as superior general of a religious institute called the “Missionaries of the Paraclete.”
“I ensured that all canonical requirements for ordination were met, to ensure that I only ordained qualified and worthy candidates for the Church,” Bishop Olorunmolu said, adding that Nwaigwe nevertheless gave him “false information.” .
“He (Nwaigwe) gave me forged documents to make some claims which turned out to be false,” he said. “For example, he showed me a forged document to claim that the ‘Missionaries of the Paraclete’ was correctly (established) as a religious institute.”
Bishop Olorunmolu said an investigation found that the “decree of ecclesiastical approval” of the “Missionaries of Jesus the Savior”, also known as “Jesolites”, based in the Diocese of Morogoro in Tanzania, was used by Nwaigwe to produce a falsified decree for the “Missionaries of the Paraclete”.
The self-proclaimed superior general reportedly replaced the name “Missionaries of Jesus the Savior” with the name “Missionaries of the Paraclete” on the falsified documents.
The bishop, who will turn 76 on August 30, said that shortly after the diaconal ordination ceremony it was discovered that, before the ordination took place, one of the candidates had been “parading” at the military barracks in Lokoja as a Catholic priest and had even been “celebrating” Masses.
Bishop Olorunmolu expressed hope that the Vatican will take further action against the four men.
Translated and adapted by the ACI Prensa team. Originally published in ICA Africa.
Agnes Aineah
Agnes Aineah is a Kenyan journalist with experience in digital reporting. She has a master’s degree in digital journalism from the Aga Khan University Graduate School of Media and Communications, Nairobi, and a bachelor’s degree in linguistics, media and communications from Kenya’s Moi University. She currently works as a journalist for ACI Africa.