Nicholas Okoh

Last updated

Nicholas Okoh
Primate of all Nigeria, Archbishop of Abuja Province
Church Church of Nigeria
DioceseAbuja
In officeMarch 2010 – March 2020
Predecessor Peter Akinola
Successor Henry Ndukuba
Orders
OrdinationJuly 1980
ConsecrationMay 2001
by  Peter Akinola
Personal details
Born (1952-11-10) 10 November 1952 (age 71)
Owa-Alero, Nigeria
SpouseNkasiobi Amaechi
Children5
Previous post(s)Archbishop of Bendel

Nicholas Dikeriehi Orogodo Okoh (born 10 November 1952, at Owa-Alero in the Delta State) is the former archbishop of Abuja Province and primate of the Church of Nigeria in the Anglican Communion. He retired on 25 March 2020. He has been married to Nkasiobi Amaechi since 1986 and they have five children.

Contents

Ecclesiastical career

The son of poor peasant farmers, his initial education was at St. Michael's (Anglican) School, in Owa-Alero, from 1958 to 1964, when he got his First School Leaving Certificate. He worked then for four years at his uncle's business, until starting his own. He joined the Nigerian Army in 1969, having not yet been confirmed. He fought in the Nigerian Civil War in 1970, losing his faith at the end of hostilities. He had a sudden conversion in early 1971, reading then the entire Bible. He was confirmed at St. Stephen's Cathedral Ondro, in 1975. Okoh continued his religious studies, becoming a freelance Evangelist and a catechist, from 1975 to 1976. He undertook his Pastoral Studies at Immanuel College of Theology, in Ibadan from 1976 to 1979, obtaining a Diploma in Religious Studies and another in Theology. [1]

He was ordained a deacon in July 1979 and a priest in July 1980. He continued his studies at the University of Ibadan, from 1979 to 1982, receiving a B.A., and later from 1984 to 1985, obtaining his M.A. degree. He became a canon in 1987 and an archdeacon in April 1991. He was consecrated as the second bishop of the Diocese of Asaba in May 2001. He was elected the Archbishop of the Ecclesiastical Province of Bendel on 22 July 2005 following the death of Archbishop Albert Agbaje.

Okoh served in the Nigerian Army, being commissioned as a lieutenant in 1982, promoted to captain in 1986, then to major in 1991 and lieutenant-colonel in 1996, his current rank.

In July 2009, in a sermon in Beckenham, Kent, Okoh made statements suggesting that Africa was under attack from Islam and that Muslims are "mass-producing" children to take over communities on the continent. He said that there was a determined Islamic attack in African countries such as Uganda, Kenya and Rwanda, a statement for which he was criticized by Muslims. [2]

Archbishop of Nigeria

He was elected Primate on September 15, 2009, having worked with the previous Primate, the Most Reverend Peter Akinola for a couple of transition months. He was installed as the 4th Primate of the Church of Nigeria on March 25, 2010, also becoming the 2nd Bishop of Abuja and Archbishop of Abuja Province. [1]

He has been one of the leading names of the Anglican realignment, both as a member of the Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans and the Global South (Anglican). Okoh led the large delegation of 470 members of the Church of Nigeria that attended GAFCON 2, from 21 to 26 October 2013, in Nairobi, Kenya. [3]

Okoh was one of the speakers at the Colloquium on Marriage, held in the Vatican, in November 2014, at invitation of Pope Francis, whom he had the chance to meet and greet at the occasion. [4] In 2017 he was one of three Anglican primates to decline to attend the international primates' meeting due to disagreements with other churches of the Anglican Communion, citing "broken fellowship over homosexual practice, same-sex marriage, and the blurring of gender identity". [5] Speaking in Abuja in 2018 Okoh said that homosexuality is "veritably poisoning" Nigerian society, blaming satellite broadcasting and international media, and the disruption of traditional culture through urbanisation. [6]

It was announced at the conclusion of GAFCON III, on 22 June 2018 ,in Jerusalem, Israel that Archbishop Okoh would step down as Chairman of GAFCON's Primates Council, in Januaryb 2019. He was succeeded by Archbishop Foley Beach, Primate of the Anglican Church in North America. [7]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Church of Nigeria</span> Nigerian Anglican church

The Church of Nigeria is the Anglican church in Nigeria. It is the second-largest province in the Anglican Communion, as measured by baptised membership, after the Church of England. As of 2016 it gives its membership as "over 18 million", out of a total Nigerian population of 190 million. It is "effectively the largest province in the Communion." As measured by active membership, the Church of Nigeria has nearly 2 million active baptised members. According to a study published by Cambridge University Press in the Journal of Anglican Studies, there are between 4.94 and 11.74 million Anglicans in Nigeria. The Church of Nigeria is the largest Anglican province on the continent of Africa, accounting for 41.7% of Anglicans in Sub-Saharan Africa, and is "probably the first [largest within the Anglican Communion] in terms of active members."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Peter Akinola</span> Primate of the Church of Nigeria from 2000 to 2010

Peter Jasper Akinola is the former Anglican Primate of the Church of Nigeria. He is also the former bishop of Abuja and Archbishop of Province III, which covered the northern and central parts of the country. When the division into ecclesiastical provinces was adopted in 2002, he became the first Archbishop of Abuja Province, a position he held until 2010. He is married and a father of six.

The Church of the Province of West Africa is a province of the Anglican Communion, covering 17 dioceses in eight countries of West Africa, specifically in Cameroon, Cape Verde, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Liberia, Senegal and Sierra Leone. Ghana is the country with most dioceses, now numbering 11.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anglican Communion Primates' Meetings</span>

The Anglican Communion Primates' Meetings are regular meetings of the primates in the Anglican Communion, i.e. the principal archbishops or bishops of each ecclesiastical province of the Anglican Communion. There are currently 38 primates of the Anglican Communion. The primates come together from the geographic provinces around the world for discussion and consultation. As primus inter pares of the communion, the Archbishop of Canterbury chairs the meetings, with the Secretary General of the Anglican Consultative Council (ACC) serving as secretary.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anglican Church of Kenya</span> Province of the Anglican Communion

The Anglican Church of Kenya (ACK) is a province of the Anglican Communion, and it is composed by 41 dioceses. The current Leader and Archbishop of Kenya is Jackson Ole Sapit. The Anglican Church of Kenya claims 5 million total members. According to a study published in the Journal of Anglican Studies and by Cambridge University Press, the ACK claims 5 million adherents, with no official definition of membership, with nearly 2 million officially affiliated members, and 310,000 active baptised members. The church became part of the Province of East Africa in 1960, but Kenya and Tanzania were divided into separate provinces in 1970.

The Church of Nigeria North American Mission (CONNAM) is a missionary body of the Church of Nigeria (CON). It has been in a ministry partnership with the Anglican Church in North America but no longer affiliated with it beyond mutual membership in GAFCON. Founded in 2005 as the Convocation of Anglicans in North America, it was composed primarily of churches that have disaffiliated from the Episcopal Church in the United States of America (ECUSA). CANA was initially a missionary initiative of the Anglican Church of Nigeria for Nigerians living in the United States. It joined several other church bodies in the formation of the Anglican Church in North America in 2009. In 2019, the dual jurisdiction arrangement with the ACNA came to an end, and CANA was reformed as CONNAM, with a special focus on serving Nigerian-American Anglican churches in North America.

The Anglican realignment is a movement among some Anglicans to align themselves under new or alternative oversight within or outside the Anglican Communion. This movement is primarily active in parts of the Episcopal Church in the United States and the Anglican Church of Canada. Two of the major events that contributed to the movement were the 2002 decision of the Diocese of New Westminster in Canada to authorise a rite of blessing for same-sex unions, and the nomination of two openly gay priests in 2003 to become bishops. Jeffrey John, an openly gay priest with a long-time partner, was appointed to be the next Bishop of Reading in the Church of England and the General Convention of the Episcopal Church ratified the election of Gene Robinson, an openly gay non-celibate man, as Bishop of New Hampshire. Jeffrey John ultimately declined the appointment due to pressure.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anglican Church in North America</span> Anglican realignment province

The Anglican Church in North America (ACNA) is a Christian denomination in the Anglican tradition in the United States and Canada. It also includes ten congregations in Mexico, two mission churches in Guatemala, and a missionary diocese in Cuba. Headquartered in Ambridge, Pennsylvania, the church reported 977 congregations and 124,999 members in 2022. The first archbishop of the ACNA was Robert Duncan, who was succeeded by Foley Beach in 2014.

The Province of the Anglican Church of the Congo is a province of the Anglican Communion, stretching over the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the Republic of the Congo.

The Global Anglican Future Conference (GAFCON) is a series of conferences of conservative Anglican bishops and leaders, the first of which was held in Jerusalem from 22 to 29 June 2008 to address the growing controversy of the divisions in the Anglican Communion, the rise of secularism, as well as concerns with HIV/AIDS and poverty. As a result of the conference, the Jerusalem Declaration was issued and the Global Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans was created. The conference participants also called for the creation of the Anglican Church in North America as an alternative to both the Episcopal Church in the United States and the Anglican Church of Canada, and declared that recognition by the Archbishop of Canterbury is not necessary to Anglican identity.

The Global Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans is a communion of conservative Anglican churches that formed in 2008 in response to ongoing theological disputes in the worldwide Anglican Communion. Conservative Anglicans met in 2008 at the Global Anglican Future Conference, creating the Jerusalem Declaration and establishing the Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans (FCA), which was rebranded as GAFCON in 2017.

Nceba Bethlehem Nopece is a South African Anglican bishop. He was the bishop of Port Elizabeth in the Anglican Church of Southern Africa from 2001 to 2018. He is a theological conservative, the leading name of the Anglican realignment in his church and also the chairman of the Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans in South Africa, launched in 2009.

Bernard Ntahoturi is a Burundian Anglican bishop. He was the Primate of the Anglican Church of Burundi from 2005 to 2016, and is the Bishop of Matana.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Foley Beach</span> American Anglican bishop

Foley Thomas Beach is an American bishop. He is the second primate and archbishop of the Anglican Church in North America, a church associated with the Anglican realignment movement. Foley was elected as the church's primate on June 21, 2014. His enthronement took place on October 9, 2014. He is married to Alison and they have two adult children.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Benjamin Kwashi</span> Anglican bishop of Nigeria

Benjamin Argak Kwashi is a Nigerian Anglican archbishop. He is married to Gloria and they have six children, one of them is also a priest. They have 54 orphans living with them in Jos, Northern Nigeria.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Henry Ndukuba</span> Primate of all Nigeria (Anglican Communion)

Henry Chukwudum Ndukuba is the current Primate of the Church of Nigeria. Prior to his appointment, he was Archbishop of Jos and Bishop of Gombe.

Blessing Avbenayeri Erifeta is the incumbent Bishop of Sapele in the Anglican Province of Bendel in the Church of Nigeria.

George Latunji Lasebikan was the Anglican Bishop of Ondo in 2007, in Ondo Province of the Church of Nigeria.

The Anglican Network in Europe (ANiE) is a small Christian denomination in the Anglican tradition with churches in Europe. Formed as part of the worldwide Anglican realignment, it is a member jurisdiction of the Global Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans (GAFCON) and is under the primatial oversight of the chairman of the GAFCON Primates Council. ANiE runs in parallel with the Free Church of England (RECUK). GAFCON recognizes ANiE as a "proto-province" operating separately from the Church of England, the Scottish Episcopal Church, the Church in Wales and other Anglican Communion jurisdictions in Great Britain and the European continent. ANiE is the body hierarchically above the preexisting Anglican Mission in England; the former is the equivalent of a province whilst the latter is a convocation, the equivalent of a diocese.

References

  1. 1 2 "Most Rev'd Nicholas D. Okoh (2010-2020) | Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion)". 25 March 2020. Retrieved 2021-03-05.
  2. Gledhill, Ruth (2009-09-21). "Muslims mass-producing children to take over Africa, says Archbishop". Times Online. London.
  3. "Okoh leads 470 Anglicans to Nairobi for GAFCON 2". October 20, 2013.
  4. Kallsen, Kevin (2014-12-27). "Archbishop Okoh's address to the Humanum Colloquium". Anglican Ink © 2021. Retrieved 2021-03-05.
  5. Davies, Madeleine (8 September 2017). "Archbishop of Nigeria Nicholas Okoh to shun next Primates' Meeting". Church Times . Retrieved 15 January 2019.
  6. Odunsi, Wale (4 September 2018). "Anglican Primate, Okoh explains why homosexuality has taken over Nigeria". Daily Post . Retrieved 21 January 2019.
  7. "Foley Beach and Ben Kwashi to lead GAFCON". Anglican Ink 2018 ©. 2018-06-22. Archived from the original on 2018-06-23. Retrieved 2018-06-23.
Anglican Communion titles
Preceded by Primate of the Anglican Church of Nigeria
20102020
Succeeded by