BREAKING: GOOD NEWS FOR AHIARA DIOCESE: Finally, Pope Francis Appoints Msgr. Nwobi As Auxiliary Bishop To The Apostolic Administrator Sede Vacante Of Ahiara (Nigeria)

 

The Holy Father, Pope Francis has appointed Auxiliary Bishop of the Apostolic Administrator sede vacante of the Diocese of Ahiara (Nigeria) in the person of the Most Rev. Fr. Simeon Okezuo Nwobi, C.M.F., assigning him the titular See of Rusgunie.

According his resume, H.E. Mgr. Simeon Okezuo Nwobi, C.M.F., was born on 25th March 1960 in Eziama Oparanadim Ekwereazu, in the Diocese of Ahiara. After joining the Congregation of the Missionary Sons of the Immaculate Heart of Mary (Claretians), he undertook studies in Philosophy at the Claretian Institute of Philosophy Maryland, Nedeke, and later in Theology at Bigard Memorial Seminary in Enugu. He made his Perpetual Profession on 11 September 1988 and was ordained a priest on 21 July 1990 for his Congregation.

He holds a Post Graduate Diploma in Public Administration from the Enugu State University of Science and Technology in Enugu, a Licentiate in Missiology from the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome and a Master's Degree in Public Administration from the National Open University of Nigeria.

He has held the following positions: Parish Priest at St. Anthony's in Igbo-Ora (1990-1992); Bursar at Claretian Theology in Enugu (1992-1997); Director of the Spirituality Department at Claretian Institute of Philosophy Maryland, Nedeke (1999-2000); Professor at Bigard Memorial Seminary in Enugu (2000-2009); Prefect of Apostolate at the Claretian Provincial Curia in New Owerri (2005-2010); Parish Priest at St. Paul's in Nekede (2006-2010); and Pastor at St. Paul's in Enugu (2006-2010). Paul in Nekede (2006-2010); Provincial of the Eastern Province of Nigeria of the Missionaries Sons of the Immaculate Heart of Mary (2010-2022).

Ahiara Diocese has been without a substantive bishop since the death of her pioneer bishop, Most Rev. Dr. Victor Adi e Chikwe in 2010. It happened that the late Bishop Victor Adibe Chikwe who served as the first bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Ahiara from his appointment on November 18, 1987, until his death on September 16, 2010, fulfilled his expected obligation and submitted names of potential candidates for bishop all the time he was alive as stipulated by the church law. 

When he died in September 16, 2010, the episcopal see of Ahiara diocese becomes vacant after the publication of the pope Benedicts’s decision.