‘I was deceived’: Bishop in Nigeria revokes ordination of deacons due to fraud

ACI Africa, Jul 31, 2024 / 10:47 am (CNA).

The bishop of Nigeria’s Diocese of Lokoja has withdrawn the ordination certificates of four men he ordained as deacons July 12 after it was revealed he had been presented with allegedly forged documents claiming the men were qualified for holy orders.

In a statement issued July 30, Bishop Martin Dada Olorunmolu revoked the four men’s certificates and suspended their activities as “deacons.”

After the ordinations, it emerged that everything Olorunmolu was presented with — including the existence of the congregation the men supposedly belonged to called the “Paraclete Missionaries” as well as the congregation’s superior general — 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,” the bishop said.

“On account of so much falsehood about the said diaconate ordination, I hereby decree that … the ‘diaconate ordination certificates’ issued by me to the four men named above are hereby withdrawn with immediate effect,” the bishop’s statement said. “They are not to be recognized by any ecclesiastical authority or any other authorities, including civil ones.”

Olorunmolu said that all faculties inherent in being ordained deacons “are hereby suspended with immediate effect” and for “an indeterminate length of time.”

The bishop explained that he ordained the men at the request of a “Rev. Father Stephen Obioma Nwaigwe,” who presented himself to the bishop as the superior general of a religious institute called the “Paraclete Missionaries.”

“I made sure that all the canonical requirements for the ordination were met so as to ensure that I ordain only qualified and worthy candidates for the Church,” Olorunmolu said, adding that he was, however, given “pieces of false information” by Nwaigwe.

“He [Nwaigwe] gave me falsified documents to make some claims which turned out to be false,” he said. “For instance, he showed me a forged document to claim that the ‘Paraclete Missionaries’ were properly [established] as a religious institute.’”

Olorunmolu said that an investigation found that the “decree of ecclesiastical approbation” of the “Missionaries of Jesus the Saviour” — also known as “Jesolites,” based in Tanzania’s Morogoro Diocese — was used by Nwaigwe to produce a forged decree for the “Paraclete Missionaries.”

The self-acclaimed superior general reportedly replaced the name “Missionaries of Jesus the Saviour” with the name “Paraclete Missionaries” in the forged documents.

The bishop, who will turn 76 on Aug. 30, said that shortly after the diaconate ordination ceremony it was discovered that, before the ordination took place, one of the candidates had been “parading himself” at the military barracks in Lokoja as a Catholic priest and had even been “celebrating” Masses.

Olorunmolu expressed hope that the Vatican will take further actions against the four men.

This article was first published by ACI Africa, CNA’s news partner in Africa, and has been adapted by CNA.