In the past few weeks, Nigerians have been reading in the social and print media about the protest of 10 parishioners of the Cathedral Church of Christ, Marina, Lagos led by one Mr. Modupe Alakija and Dr. Yomi Finnih against Archbishop Ademowo who is the Bishop of Lagos Diocese and Dean Emeritus of the Church of Nigeria Anglican Communion in recent times. They have accused the Archbishop who is due to retire at the end of July 2018 of financial profligacy and corrupt practices and as such not deserving of appointing his successor. All these allegations are coming shortly after the House of Bishops of the Anglican Church numbering 161 in all voted at Ilorin on 6th February, 2018 for Archbishop Ademowo’s successor. The election which was free and fair led to the emergence of Rt. Rev. Dr. Humphrey Olumakaiye who is the Bishop of Osun North East Diocese as winner and due to be translated to the Holy See of Lagos in July after Ademowo’s retirement. He defeated Archbishop Michael Olusina Fape, current Bishop of Remo Diocese and Archbishop of Lagos, Ogun and Bendel Ecclesiastical Province who is the preferred candidate of Bishop Pelu Johnson and the Modupe Alakija group.

The main reason for the protest is not so much that Archbishop Ademowo stole money or mismanaged the funds of the Diocese as is being alleged, since all the allegations have been debunked in his reply to the Primate in answer to the letters of protest signed by the 10 protesters, those allegations are merely being used to mask the real reason. The real reason is that Bishop Pelu Johnson wants to come back to Lagos Diocese by all means and at whatever cost. For him, his return to Lagos Diocese has become an obsession and he will stop at nothing to ensure that his desire materializes. He therefore found a willing tool in the 10 protesters some of whom, particularly the women, were close to his Father – the Very Rev. Sope Johnson when he was the Provost of the Cathedral. 

Upon realizing that should the 49 year old Bishop Olumakaiye translate to the Lagos Diocese he will spend 21 years in the Diocese, the 53 year old Bishop Pelu Johnson became distressed knowing that it would be impossible for him to become the Bishop of Lagos since he will retire at the age of 70 before Bishop Olumakaiye. Also realizing that the Constitution of the Church of Nigeria makes it impossible for a Bishop to translate from one Diocese to another without having spent 5 years in one Diocese, in this case Bishop Pelu Johnson has spent a little over 1 year in the Lagos Mainland Diocese, he devised a plan whereby he went to lure a rather reticent 59 year old Archbishop Michael Fape into the fray by dangling a carrot before Archbishop Fape that he would become the next Primate in about 3 years time when the current Primate retires and that position becomes vacant. This way Archbishop Fape who was made an Archbishop by Archbishop Ademowo and who 3 years ago had nominated Bishop Olumakaiye as Archbishop Ademowo’s best candidate for succession to the Lagos Diocese, will contest the election against Bishop Olumakaiye. He had calculated that if Archbishop Fape wins, he will come to the Diocese of Lagos, contest to become Primate in about 3 years time and if he wins again, he will translate to the Abuja Diocese and Church of Nigeria Headquarters in Abuja and he – Bishop Pelu Johnson would be translated by Archbishop Fape to Lagos Diocese from the Lagos Mainland Diocese. If however, Archbishop Fape loses the election to the Primacy, being an older Bishop, he would be in the Lagos Diocese for 11 years till age 70 and he will then ensure Bishop Pelu Johnson’s translation to Lagos Diocese.

As it is said, “Man proposes and God disposes”. Bishop Johnson had raised funds amounting to several hundreds of millions of Naira from Mr. Modupe Alakija, Mrs. Vivian Fowler, Mrs. Ivie Ejiwunmi and Dr. Olumide Philips and others to ensure that Archbishop Fape wins the election held at Ilorin on February 6, 2018. He had started distributing envelopes containing Bank Drafts of at least N1 Million each to Bishops of the Anglican Church as far back as September 2017 at a Meeting of the House of Bishops held in Port-Harcourt. When asked what the money was for, he simply said it was to help their Dioceses. The Bank Drafts were cut from a bank in Ebute-Metta, Lagos where his Lagos Mainland Diocese has its headquarters at St. Jude’s Cathedral Church. Ebute-Metta, Lagos. When their preferred candidate lost, Bishop Johnson and the other members of the Modupe Alakija group could not believe it and started a campaign of calumny against Archbishop Ademowo making several allegations on issues that had existed at least 3 years before the election was held. People have been asking the question why were the issues not raised and allegations made earlier when the issues occurred and why did they wait till now to raise the issues. 

The 10 protesters threatened to take the matter of financial impropriety and profligacy made against Archbishop Ademowo to the EFCC. But they soon dropped the idea upon learning that there was abundant evidence that they and Bishop Pelu Johnson are the ones who will go to jail for bribing Bishops to vote in a particular way since the Bank Drafts are traceable to a Bank in Ebute-Metta, Lagos. They called the Primate to a meeting in Lagos, insulted and threatened him saying they will bring down the Cathedral if Archbishop Ademowo comes to conduct the statutory Good Friday and Easter Sunday Services. When it was apparent that Archbishop Ademowo was going to go to the Cathedral as planned, the threatened to resort to physical violence against Archbishop Ademowo by trying to prevent him from conducting the Statutory Good Friday and Easter Sunday Services. When they could not succeed due to the presence of heavily armed security forces, Mr. Modupe Alakija shamelessly tried to disrupt one of the services by shouting and calling the Archbishop a thief when the Archbishop was saying the final prayers leading to Benediction but he was thrown out of the Church to the joy of worshippers who were terribly appalled at his behavior. Most worshippers who knew nothing about what was going on said they came to worship God solemnly and not to listen to any allegations being made against anyone. Another worshipper said if they felt so aggrieved they should report the matter to EFCC and allow them to worship in the Cathedral in peace and more importantly that the 10 of them plus Bishop Johnson are inconsequential to their Christian faith and spirituality as they don’t amount to anything at all.

All in all, the 10 protesters consisting of Mr. Modupe Alakija, Dr. Yomi Finnih, Mrs. Laide Sasegbon, Mrs. Modupe Sagoe, Mr. Fola Osibo, Mr. Bukola Meadows, Chief Femi Adeniyi-Williams, Ms. Otuyelu, Mr. Ade Abisogun and Mr. Lai Ajayi-Bembe simply embarrassed themselves. They call themselves Elders of the Cathedral but they all behaved like in a most unruly manner and lost the respect most parishioners once had for them. The most important issues they were supposed to have raised in their two letters of protest/objection were to state any Canonical ground upon which the Rt. Rev. Dr. Humphrey Olumakaiye should not be translated to the Diocese of Lagos. Unfortunately, they could not find a single one. In fact they stated in their letters that they have nothing against Rt. Rev. Dr. Olumakiaye and that it was Archbishop Ademowo they were up against. It is indeed funny how some Elders think.