New Anglican Primate for Nigeria

From This Day (Africa)

The new Anglican Primate for Nigeria, Most Reverend Nicholas Okoh, has formally taken over from former Primate, Peter Jasper Akinola, in a smooth succession that speaks volumes to the polity. Primate Okoh becomes the fourth Primate of the Anglican Communion in Nigeria following in the footsteps of former Primates Olufosoye, Adetiloye and Akinola, who all in their time played crucial roles in shaping the fortunes and following of a church that used to be the official church of the colonial government in Nigeria.

We congratulate the new Primate and wish him a peaceful and beneficial tenure of office; both for the church and the country. We also wish his predecessor, Primate Akinola, a well deserved, restful and healthy retirement. He blazed a trail in defense of biblical values on sexuality globally.

He made an indelible mark in the dignified resistance he led against the ordination of gay bishops in the Pentecostal Church in the US; in the face of dithering on the part of the leadership of the global Anglican Communion vested in the Archbishop of Canterbury in the UK. In standing against homosexuality as unbiblical, Primate Akinola spoke the mind of millions of Anglicans globally and especially in Africa.

On the home front, Primate Akinola consolidated the establishment of the Anglican Church in Abuja as the focal point and centre of worship of the Anglican Communion in Nigeria. Lagos used to be the epicenter of the Communion. He also expanded the dioceses to 155 and created the concept of Auxiliary Bishops to drive evangelism nationally. He empowered the youths to take active positions in the church by limiting the ages of leaders of the powerful Anglican Youth Fellowship to between the 13 and 40 years. More importantly, he spoke stridently against the burning of churches during religious riots and tasked the authorities to protect all Nigerians even as he called for religious tolerance on all sides.

Such are the big shoes that new Primate Okoh steps into and we are hopeful he can wear them fittingly. This is because the new Primate, aside from his known leadership qualities, has a military background having spent all his life spreading the gospel in military barracks all over the country.

http://www.thisdayonline.com/nview.php?id=170929