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BY SUNNY A. DAVID
The clock is ticking for the kidnappers of retired Archbishop Godwin Okpala. Archbishop Emmadavid Okafoagu, speaking in Nnewi on the issued a pointed ultimatum to the abductors, hinting at unspecified consequences should Archbishop Okpala not be released immediately.
Archbishop Okafoagu, of the New Covenant of God Mission and Ministers Network, issued a plea for the retired Archbishop’s release during a press conference in Nnewi.
For almost two weeks now, the retired Archbishop of Nnewi Anglican Diocese Archbishop (Prof.) Godwin I. N. Okpala and his driver have been declared missing and the car they were traveling in.
Appealing to the abductors to release the 75 years old Clergy, Archbishop Okafoagu who doubles as the Obi of Umuezechukwu in Obiagu, Uruagu-Nnewi said: “When we heard the bad news, we entered into serious prayers, hoping that our prayers and those of others who know the Archbishop would prevail.
“The Archbishop has been a good man to all of us. He established himself as a good statesman to the people following him. He worked tirelessly in peace with us, not minding that we are not of the same Church and he retired honourably.
“I believe that God will intervene. We have made a decree since our appeal didn’t work, telling the people that are holding him of the imminent danger they face. Their families and supporters are facing danger. In short, they are facing doom.
“We are giving them today and tomorrow for them to release the man for us, or face a serious calamity they never imagined in their lives.”
On what could make people hold such an old man hostage, he said: “I don’t know and I don’t care to know what made them to hold him hostage. All I know is that this man has laboured in the vineyard of God. We know that there is only one God and His only begotten Son is Jesus Christ and there is only one power which is the Holy Spirit, which this man has believed and laboured in.
“What I’m saying is that wherever the Archbishop is, we want to see him today or tomorrow.
“The family of the victim and his followers should rest assured that the Archbishop cannot just go like that.
He said that Archbishop Okpala had put in so much labour in the land, adding that the land of Nnewi is a land of favour.
“The land cannot favour him and at the end of the day disfavor him without any justifiable reason. Nnewi is a land of favour and this Nnewi which is a land of favour has favoured Archbishop Okpala and therefore can never put him to shame,” he concluded.
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