Archibishop to Soludo: Stop chasing shawdows, focus on important things

 

Joseph Irikefe

 

In Ndi-Anambra continue to express their disgust over Governor Soludo’s alleged prioritising non critical issues, chasing shadows, addressing frivolities while ignoring critical matters, the governor has reportedly has moved from humiliating traditional rulers to reportedly threatening to impose fine on a Catholic cleric for over-shooting the burial expenses prescribed by law.

Anambarians who attended the burial ceremony of the mother of popular Catholic priest, Rev Fr. Obimma Ebube Muonso watched in shock as the state governor threw all caution to the wind and allegedly launched a verbal attack on the family of the deceased casting serious aspersions on both the priest and the institution he represents for daring to bury their matriach with pomp and pageantry that exceeded what was obtainable when the governor buried his father few weeks ago.

Due to the development, The Catholic Archbishop of Onitsha Archdiocese and Metropolitan of Onitsha Ecclesiastical Province, His Grace, Most Rev. Valerian Okeke who could no longer tolerate the excesses of the Governor responded swiftly and in kind.

The Archbishop and the governor were locked in a war of words over the governor’s threat to impose a fine on the Obimma family for celebrating the funeral ceremonies of Ezinne Grace Obimma in what the governor described as flamboyant manner.

Gov. Soludo had at Nkwelle Ezunaka during the requiem mass for Ezinne Grace Obimma, mother of the spiritual director of Holy Ghost Adoration Ministry, Uke, Rev Fr Emmanuel Obimma, lambasted the family, particularly Charles Obimma, who was a member of the legislature that passed the state burial law in 2019 and Rev Fr. Ebube Muonso, for allegedly over-shooting limit of burial expenses prescribed by the law.

The Governor said the insignificant, low-key burial of his late father, Pa Simeon Soludo, was child’s play compared to that of the late Madam Obimma, who died at 88.

Countering the Governor, Archbishop Okeke criticised him for stepping into an area he had no jurisdiction, asking him to respect the boundaries or principles of separation of jurisdiction.

The cleric said: “In separation of power, you don’t make laws for the church on how to bury the dead because it’s bound to fail.

“It’s not the duty of the governor to make law on how Christian burials should be done because there are more serious things the government should do than burials. Any law that is impossible to keep or enforce should be considered unjust.”

According to him, the church can only make laws where it has exclusive ecclesiastical powers and not for the government because they remain two separate jurisdictions.

He pointed out that the church made suggestions on how to cut expenses during burial but noted that the choice of celebrants to decide whether to spend hugely or meagerly depended on them.

This controversy is coming just days after the Anambra State governor suspended the traditional ruler of Neni community for daring to confer a traditional title on his main political rival, Senator Ifeanyi Ubah.

Analysts say Anambra has more pressing issues like security, poor public infrastructure, lack of pipe borne water, corruption and embezzlement in government agencies, murders and kidnappings that require immediate executive attention.

They wondered why the state government under Soludo’s watch has seeming turned a blind eye to these critical issues but instead has chosen to dwell on trivialities by prioritizing the bureaucratic subjugation of his people through the implementation of mundane, not actionable and not implementable laws that add no value to our statehood.