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ABUJA, NIGERIA: Anglican Primate Receives Overwhelming Support from Standing Committee over Canterbury Communique
Nigerian leaders repudiate Liberal Western claims that Archbishop Okoh did not speak for his province
By David W. Virtue DD
www.virtueonline.org
February 18, 2016
At a recent meeting of the Standing Committee of Nigeria which included their House of Bishops, some 370 delegates publicly repudiated liberal Western claims that their Primate did not speak for his church at the recent meeting of 36 Primates in Canterbury.
Delegates gave repeated rounds of applause to their archbishop, the Most Rev. Nicholas Okoh. The meeting took place at St. Andrew's Anglican Church in Kubwa, outside Abuja.
The Registrar of the Church of Nigeria, Barrister Abraham Yisa, told the Standing Committee that rumors were already being circulated by voices in the liberal West that Archbishop Okoh did not speak for his church, and he called on the Standing Committee to give their unanimous support for the archbishop and his leadership in the Communion to put to death such rumors.
His short impassioned speech was received with loud "Amens" from the assembled delegates.
Sources told VOL that of all the items on the agenda, this one received the most affirmative reactions from the room. Following the Registrar's comments, a number of bishops stood to make short comments endorsing the motion and supporting the Primate, which included US CANA Bishop Julian Dobbs, who reminded the room that the faithful in America and the West were looking to Nigeria for leadership and that such a motion would be a great encouragement to them. His comments got healthy applause from the SC.
The meeting included leaders from each diocese with delegations that included bishops, clergy and laity.
Okoh told delegates that while in Canterbury, faithful Anglicans in the West often messaged him and members of his team in Canterbury urging them to stand strong, pledging their prayerful support.
The Primate asked the SC for permission to make their show of public support for him in the final Communique, which they did.
During the meeting the Primate gave a short opening statement in which he expressed the view that the Primates' gathering in Canterbury had changed nothing that Nigeria was still in "broken communion" with TEC and Canada and that Nigeria would still take the lead in calling the Anglican Communion to return to the authority of the Bible.
The meeting ran for three days from Tuesday, February 2 to February 4. Following the meeting many delegates stayed for the dedication of St. Bartholomew's Cathedral in Kubwa on Friday morning, Feb 5.
The following is a communique from the Standing Committee of the Anglican Province of Nigeria
http://storage.cloversites.com/canadioceseoftheeast/documents/Communique%20Feb%2020160001.pdf
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