By Emma Ogbuehi
Lucius Ugorji, the Catholic Bishop of Umuahia and former Apostolic Administrator of the Ahiara diocese, has been appointed the Archbishop of Owerri Archdiocese in Imo State.
The Catholic Pontiff, His Holiness, Pope Francis, made the appointment.
With the appointment, Most Revd (Dr.) Lucius Iwejuru Ugorji becomes the second Archbishop of the Diocese, one of the oldest in the country.
Pope Francis, represented by Apostolic Nuncio to Nigeria, His Grace, Archbishop Antonio Guido Filipazzi, made the announcement on Sunday in Abuja, at the opening ceremony of the ongoing first plenary meeting of the Catholic Bishops Conference of Nigeria in 2022.
Ugorji will take over from His Grace, Archbishop Anthony John Valentine (AJV) Obinna, who has been in that position since March 26 1994.
Archbishop Filipazzi said Pope Francis has accepted the voluntary retirement of Obinna after the Archbishop reached 75 years.
The mandatory retirement age for bishops in the Catholic church is 75.
Obinna was born on June 26, 1946 at Emekuku, Owerri and was ordained a priest on April 9, 1972.
He became the Bishop of Owerri Diocese in 1993 and was upgraded to the position of Archbishop in 1994 when Owerri ecclesiastical province became an Archdiocese.
The new Archbishop of Owerri, Lucius Ugorji, was born in January 13, 1952. He was first ordained a priest at the age of 25 and was appointed a Bishop by Pope John Paul II when he was 38 years old.
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Barely three months ago, he resigned his position as chairman, Governing Council of Imo State University, Owerri, to the shock of many stakeholders.
He reportedly approached Governor Hope Uzodimma on several occasions on the proper funding of the University with the request that the State-owned tertiary institution cannot run or fund itself.
Lucius Ugorji was said to have claimed that he could not understand how Uzodimma expected him to preside over an underfunded and stagnant University as a cleric.
The man of God also observed that IMSU was not being run as an institution of higher learning deserving of Imo State University status and that in order to avoid dabbling into any mess, he opted to resign.
