Enugu, Anglican church at war over land

Hundreds of priests from the Enugu Anglican Diocese yesterday morning blocked the entrance to the popular Women Training Centre (WTC), housing three female secondary schools in Ogui New Layout, Enugu in protest of an alleged directive to the school authorities by the state Ministry of Education to stop dealing with the Anglican Church on the ground that it had repossessed the mission schools.

Thousands of secondary school students and primary schools pupils were prevented from gaining entry into their schools for academic activities as the protesting priests in their cassocks remained at the major entrance for the better part of the day, laying claim to the landed property.
But the state government in a statement by the Commissioner for Education, Uchechukwu Okoro, said the schools were handed over to the church in error based on the report of a committee set up by the government to investigate complaints arising from the handover of schools.
The priests alleged that the state government had started allocating land in the premises of the schools to private developers, an action they considered as ‘punitive and unfair’.
The affected secondary schools in the WTC premises are the Urban Anglican Girls Secondary School, Metropolitan Anglican Secondary School and City Anglican Secondary School as well as five primary schools.
The priests, led by their Chairman, Venerable Moses Peter Ifeanyieze, had arrived the WTC road location of the schools as early as 6.30am and blocked the entrances to the compound.
They carried placards that read thus: “Who can battle with the Lord, we say nobody, Leave us alone and give peace a chance, Government should not be partisan, Take your schools away and leave our land premises and Keep off from the church,” among others.