Bishop in Nigeria suspends priest who’s running for governor
In recent years, in several African countries, priests and bishops have exercised a mandate of civil or political power – some with hierarchical approval, but others without it
A Catholic bishop in eastern Nigeria has suspended one of his priests for actively campaigning to become their state’s governor.
Bishop William Avenya, head of the Diocese of Gboko, removed the priestly faculties of Father Hyacinth Alia on May 20 after the charismatic cleric refused to renounce his political ambitions.
The 56-year-old priest is running to become governor of Benue State as the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), the party of Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari.
Father Alia has a doctorate in biomedical ethics and has been serving as project director at Catholic university in Gboko. He is well known for the healing Masses he’s held in the diocese.
But in recent years the priest has shown political ambitions. He began actively campaigning on social media (mainly Facebook) in 2020 for the 2023 gubernatorial election.
The Catholic bishops of Nigeria have spoken out in recent years against priests with political ambitions.
"In accordance with the norms of canon law, we wish to categorically reaffirm the fact that no Catholic priest or consecrated person will be allowed to take an active part in the political struggle," they said in 2019.
This prohibition is based on canon 285 § 3, which states that "clerics are forbidden to assume public office whenever it means sharing in the exercise of civil power".
The same canon says clerics must seek permission from their local bishop in any case: "Without the permission of their Ordinary, they may not undertake the administration of goods belonging to lay people, or secular offices which involve the obligation to render an account" (can. 285 § 4).
Appointments to head institutions
This was the case with Father Fulbert Youlu (d. 1972), who served as the first president of Congo Brazzaville (1960-63).
The local bishops backed Youlu in his early days in politics, but withdrew their support in 1955 when the priest wanted to run for the territorial elections.
The case of Father Alia, who has accepted his suspension, is almost identical to a situation from some 30 years ago involving a priest from his own diocese.
Father Moses Orshio Adasu was elected governor of Benue State on January 2, 1992 as the candidate of the Social Democratic Party (SDP).
In addition to clerics running for office, priests have been appointed to head political power structures in several African countries.
These appointments can be a source of tension within the Church if there is no consultation to determine the usefulness or necessity of accepting them.
Two cases illustrate this: the appointment of Archbishop Paul Siméon Ahouana of Bouaké, in central Côte d'Ivoire, to the National Commission for Reconciliation and Compensation of Victims (CONARIV); and the appointment of Father Apollinaire Malu Malu as head of the Independent National Electoral Commission (CENI) in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Bishop Paul Simeon Ahouana and Father Malu Malu
Ivorian President Alassane Ouattara in 2015 appointed Archbishop Paul Simeon Ahouana of Bouaké as president of CONARIV, a structure founded to compensate victims of the 2010-2011 post-election violence.
Ahouana did not need the approval of a bishop to hold such a position, since he was the diocesan ordinary.
But the Episcopal Conference of the Côte d'Ivoire (CECCI) disassociated itself from his decision to accept the political position.
The archbishop resigned from his position at CONARIV two years later.
A similar case occurred in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in April 2013 when Father Apollinaire Malu Malu was appointed head of the National Independent Electoral Commission (CENI).
The Episcopal Conference of the Congo (CENCO) opposed his holding such a political position. But Father Malu Malu’s local ordinary, Bishop Melchisédech Sikuli Paluku, actually supported him.
The priest resigned as head of this electoral commission in October 2015 because of health reasons. He died less than a year later, in June 2016.
Father Boni Boni, Archbishop Kpodzro and Cardinal Monsengwo
But there are more celebrated cases of African clerics who have assumed political office with the blessing of the Church and without major clashes.
In Côte d'Ivoire, Father Martial Boni Boni served on the Independent Electoral Commission (CEI) between July 2014 and July 2019, on behalf of the national bishops’ conference.
He sat in a position reserved for civil society, as did Imam Ousmane Diakité, who represented the Superior Council of Imams (COSIM) at the time.
Togolese Archbishop Philippe Fanoko Kpodzro, who headed Lomé Archdiocese between 1992 and 2007, became head of the High Commission of the Republic in 1991.
The commission was a sort of transitional parliament that worked to produce a new constitution for Togo in 1992.
The late Cardinal Laurent Monsengwo, who was archbishop of Kinshasa from 2007-2018, became head of DR-Congo’s Sovereign National Conference (CNS) in 1991.
The conference’s purpose was to organize broad popular consultations in the face of the crisis Zaire was going through at the time.
A year later this body became the High Council of the Republic (HCR), then the High Council of the Republic-Transition Parliament (HCR-PT).
Monsengwo, who was archbishop of Kisingani at the time and not yet a cardinal, continued to head this governing institution until 1996 when he voluntarily resigned.