28/12/26.
OPEN LETTER TO
ALEXANDER C. IBEZIM, PhD.
Most REV'D Archbishop,
Province of the Niger.
Bishop of Awka Anglican Diocese
Your Grace,
*A CRY FOR PASTORAL INTERVENTION AND THE STIFLING OF EDUCATION AT ALPHA SCHOOLS, AGULU.*
I recently petitioned your office regarding the ongoing administrative excesses of Canon LumenChristi Eboh, the Priest-in-Charge of St. Paul’s Anglican Church, Agulu. Specifically, I brought to your attention his persistent efforts to stifle education and learning at Alpha Primary and Secondary School, Agulu. The school environment has become increasingly hostile to learning under his watch.
Your calculated silence on this petition which has now exceeded 10 working days, is deeply concerning. This silence has planted seeds of doubt in the hearts of Agulu indigene, the PTA of Alpha School, and prominent members of the Agulu Anglican community especially the youths and the women. We are beginning to question the resolve of the Chief Shepherd of the Awka Diocese to handle this matter with the competency and urgency it demands.
I must speak plainly about a recurring pattern of neglect that we have witnessed under your leadership. As a community of Persons Living With Sickle Cell Disorder, we have found our interactions with your office to be consistently disheartening. It is difficult to understand why our pleas for spiritual fatherhood continue to fall on deaf ears. For a community of faithful Christians living with significant challenges as sickle cell, the lack of pastoral recognition is a heavy burden to bear.
The Aguata Anglican Diocese and the Metropolitan diocese on the Niger, have both provided us with Chaplains. Both the Awka and Ekwulobia Catholic Dioceses and Methodist Church have appointed Chaplains to oversee our spiritual needs. But despite our numerous appeals, your office which remains the only one with major jurisdictional influence in this region is yet to appoint a Chaplain from the Awka Anglican Diocese to minister to us, thereby creating an ecumenical vacuum for our members many of whom are your own parishioners.
For over fifteen years, the foundation of our community has been built on a bedrock of ecumenical partnership and mutual respect. To suggest that I harbor a denominational bias is not only factually incorrect, it is a direct contradiction of a decade and half documented history.
My work has been deeply intertwined with, and championed by the highest levels of Anglican clergy. Some instances are (1.) When a respected Anglican Bishop from Anambra State entrusted me with a national platform to address the Evangelical Fellowship in the Anglican Communion (EFAC) during their National Convention in Abia State, in 2018. (2.) Both The Bishop emiretus and the current bishop of Aguata, demonstrated profound trust in our mission by appointing Ven.Dr Kamto Obi, a priest and medical doctor as our chaplain. His dual role in managing our spiritual and physical health has been nothing short of exceptional. In that same vein, Mama Aguata and her mothers union, has made it a tradition to visit our community every mothering Sunday, providing consistent encouragement and resources. (3.) The Bishop of the Metropolitan Diocese on the Niger, whose instrumental support was a primary reason our community survived the hardships of the COVID-19 pandemic.
To read the rejoinder by Rev. LumenChristi Eboh, with its theatrical attempt to paint me as a "Catholic agent" seeking to bring disrepute to the Anglican ministry, is as laughable as it is insulting. Our community is a mosaic of Christian denominations. We do not focus on the vestments a leader wears, but on the support they extend to those living with sickle cell. Any desperate attempt by Rev Eboh to weaponize my personal faith against the very ministry that has sustained us for 15 years, ignores reality, so it is dead on arrival.
My Lord, it is a matter of public record that your elder brother, Thompson Ibezim, tragically passed away under horrifying circumstances following a long struggle with the frustrations of sickle cell disorder. Only two years ago, you lost another sibling Nnamdi Ibezim to complications of the same condition.
Despite these personal tragedies, there remains a perceived indifference and adamancy towards the Sickle Cell Community, a community that looks to leadership for the empathy and support the bible commands us to provide for the vulnerable.
Also, I recall a personal exchange with your brother, Dr Onyeka Ibezim. He requested the removal of Thompson's name from the list of honourees in my book “Facts About Sickle Cell,” in 2017 suggesting that his inclusion would bring stigma and embarrassment to the family. This raises a painful question: where the frustrations that led Thompson to his end exacerbated by a family environment that prioritized social standing over the reality of his condition?
Dr Onyeka and I are well acquainted from our time at the 82 Division of the Nigerian Army. He is familiar with my background and the meritorious nature of my service during my tenure there. It is from this place of mutual history and shared loss that I urge a re-evaluation of how we honor those we have lost and how we serve those sickle cell warriors still fighting.
My earlier position regarding the activities of Rev. Eboh remains resolute and unchanged. His persistent and excessive noise pollution, false prophecies and fake miracles conducted under the guise of religious ministration, is directly jeopardizing the academic future of Agulu's children. The volume from his public address systems is so overwhelming that it disrupts the concentration of students and teachers alike, preventing them from following their teachers instructions. Rather than focusing on their studies, pupils are frequently distracted and led to to dance in their classrooms to the music emanating from these speakers, forcing the teachers to continue shouting on top of their voices. The education of sickle cell children in Alpha School are non-negotiable.
My Lord Bishop, since you haven't donated a kobo to our welfare, why then do you still condone such assault on our future progress?
It is widely reported in Agulu how this same Rev Eboh, leveraged his influence within security agencies to intimidate and harass members of Agulu community, particularly some youths, who attempt to address these disturbances. Despite several petitions to your office, there has been no tangible intervention to remedy the situation.
If your office is unwilling to hold Rev Eboh accountable for his misdeeds, and he is so cherished that he can't be sanctioned, kindly repost him to your own community nearby such as Ovollo Village in Mbaukwu, St Lawrence to be precise, where perhaps his methods of ministration would be tolerated.
My Lord, a shepherd is known by how he tends to the weakness of his flock. We urge you to break this culture of silence, address the crisis brewing in Alpha Schools, for long lasting peace and progress in Agulu.
Thank you for your attention.
Sincerely..
Aisha Edwards Maduagwu,
Director,
Sickle Cell Orphanage and Underprivileged Home Agulu.
08033222007.