IPOB: Egbu Diocese Shifts Synod

By Charles Igbo

No thanks to the Indigenous Peoples of Biafra, IPOB, The Diocese of Egbu, (Anglican Communion), has shifted the date for its 2021 Synod.

The Diocese usually holds its Synod, an annual event, and  the most important and glamorous congregation of the Stakeholders of the Diocese  every first week of November.

This year’s event had been scheduled to begin on Thursday, November 5, 2021, and end on Sunday, November 7, 2021.

With the theme, “I have Given You An Example…” (John 13:15), the star event is the Presidential Address to be delivered by the Bishop of  the Diocese, His Lordship, The Rt. Rev. Geoffrey Enyinnaya Okorafor. It was billed for Friday, November 5, at the venue of the Synod, the host  Church, St John’s Anglican Church, Naze, Owerri North Local Government Area, Imo State.

But the schedule has changed. And this is the first time that the dates of the events at the Synod would suddenly change.

The plan for the change began when IPOB suddenly announced it would lock down the South-east between November 5 and November 10, if its leader, Mazi  Nnamdi Kanu, is not released, unconditionally on, or before November 4.

Kanu is under the custody of the Federal Government being prosecuted for, among other things, alleged terrorism and treasonable felony at the Federal High Court, Abuja.

Since the trial began, IPOB, a group seeking for an independent South-east to be known as the Republic of Biafra, had ordered  sit-at-home on the Monday of every week. It later restricted it to the days Kanu would appear in Court, but it has not worked. Every  Monday, the Zone still stands still, with violence visited on a few people who dare out.

It is avoid an ugly situation that the Diocesan Board of Egbu Diocese, after an Emergency meeting  on Tuesday, October 26, made adjustments in the programme for the Synod.

Said Bishop Okorafor to all invitees: ” Please, note that because of the IPOB threats of sit-at-home from 5th Nov, we’re constrained  to begin our Synod on Tuesday, 2nd November. We’ll, therefore, present our Address/Charge on Wednesday 3rd November at 10,30am.”

The venue, however, remains the same.