Nigeria’s Most Reverend Josiah Idowu-Fearon has been given one of the highest offices of the Anglican Communion Worldwide. Idowu-Fearon was yesterday in London commissioned into the new post as the Secretary-General of the Consultative Council of the Anglican Communion Worldwide.

In a letter delivered to Dr. Idowu-Fearon in London yesterday on the occasion of his commissioning, President Muhammadu Buhari congratulated him, saying that all Nigerians are proud of his elevation into one of the most important offices in the world of faith.

A statement by Senior Special Assistant to the President (Media & Publicity) Garba Shehu said Buhari also applauded Bishop Idowu-Fearon’s emergence, after a highly competitive selection process, as the first African to occupy the office.

Shehu quoted the Nigerian leader as writing in the congratulatory letter which was delivered to the Most Reverend Idowu-Fearon by a personal emissary of the President, Mallam Adamu Adamu: “With your intellect, with great pastoral zeal and with compassion, you have over the years risen above intolerance and narrow sectarianism and built interfaith and ecumenical bridges of understanding among your countrymen.

“We salute your special gift of clearly articulating the essence and beauty of the many bonds that bind us. You have lived up to your calling and attained your self-stated goals of creating a culture of respect for differences, a culture of accepting human beings for what they are and playing down the things that divide them.

“Our nation and the world will certainly be a better place if all men of God approach pastoral work with the same patience, compassion and fidelity to higher principles that you have exhibited in the various offices you have held.

“It is our prayer that, in your new position, God uses you to counsel and move the entire worldwide Anglican Communion in the direction in which you have taken the Anglican Church in Nigeria – towards an intimate knowledge of others, and sincere fellowship with everyone.

“This is the imperative of the moment: it is what the world direly needs today.”

Shehu said President Buhari wished Bishop Idowu-Fearon God’s guidance and success at his new post in the Anglican Communion Office in London.