Few weeks after the war of the Catholic Church over Ahiara Diocese, another war brews in Enugu as the people of Udi North comprising the Ojebeogene, Ezedike, Ugwunye and Eke clans have rejected moves by the Enugu Diocese to include them in the proposed Udi Diocese.
According to a leading member of the Laity in the zone, who is also the traditional ruler of Ukana, Igwe Ubaka, Eke was the first ever Catholic church in the whole of Enugu State, Ebonyi State, Kogi State and Benue State.
He said that those parishes which later became Diocese as Enugu, Makurdi Oturkpo, Abakaliki, Idah and Nsukka, all emanated from Eke. But strangely, Eke has remained a mere parish.
He said that they were shocked that when new deanaries were created as Udi, Awgu (which is now a diocese), Eke was omitted.
According to him, it did not matter to them if they remained a Deanary, but that would be as long as they are left in Enugu Diocese.
He said that in 2008 when the idea of making Udi a Diocese came up, they made it clear that they would not be part of it, and it was settled then.
However, he said, they were shocked to hear that the new Papal Nuncio has plans to go ahead with making Udi a Diocese to include Udi North Zone.
Udi North, he said, was too far from Udi, and there is an intervening territory, being Ngwo/Ninth Mile, which is part of Enugu. It would be wrong for them to pass through another Diocese to access their Diocese if they were included in Udi Diocese.
He said they since the arrival of the new Nuncio, all efforts they made to access him appeared to be blocked, hence the outcry.
“Our people will go to any length to have us properly located. All the main Udi North communities are contiguous with Enugu urban. Abor is part of the Trans Ekulu Enugu. Ukana and Awhum share common boundaries with Nike, Amoji, Ugwogo. It is the same case with Okpatu and Umulumgbe.”
He said that since Ngwo/Ninth Mile had asserted themselves and remained in Enugu, they are cut off from Udi and cannot be travelling far distance to reach their Diocesan headquarters.
Besides, Igwe Ubaka said, it was injustice that after its centenary over ten years again, Eke has remained just a parish while those other parishes it parented as Enugu, Idah, Abakaliki, Makurdi, Oturkpo, etc, had long become parishes with their Bishops.
“What did we so wrong to be so treated?” he queried.
A source among the Laity who chooses to be anonymous said that they were aware that Eke Deanary was created and signed by the former Bishop of Enugu, Anthony Gbuji, but somebody had sat on it and it has not seen the light the day.
Igwe Ubaka calls on sons and daughters of the Clans in Udi North to be prepared for the battle as they would leave no stone unturned.
“We must remain in Enugu Diocese until we are made a Diocese,” he declared.
