Ecclesiastical Earthquake: Suspended Archbishop Alexander Ibezim Drags Primate Ndukuba to Court, Hires SANs to Block Investigation Over Alleged Multi-Billion Naira Land Scam as Bishop Samuel Ezeofor Bishop of Aguata Diocese Takes Over

What was initially contained as an administrative and disciplinary measure by the leadership of the Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion) has blown wide open, plunging the church into a profound institutional and legal crisis.

​The crisis erupted when the Primate of the Church, Most Rev. Henry Ndukuba, slammed a six-month suspension on the Bishop of Awka Diocese and Metropolitan Archbishop on the Niger, Most Rev. Alexander Ibezim, directing him to proceed on immediate leave pending investigations into damning findings by a visitation team. Although official letters initially cited unauthorized actions and governance concerns within the diocese, reliable reports and legal filings have laid bare the staggering gravity of the underlying accusations: Archbishop Ibezim is heavily suspected of fleecing the Church of over ₦2 billion in shady, unauthorized land transactions.  

​Rather than submit to internal ecclesiastical due process and clear his name before an independent church investigation panel, Archbishop Ibezim has chosen a belligerent path of legal defiance. Court documents filed before the High Court of Anambra State in the Awka Judicial Division reveal that Ibezim—acting as the Plaintiff—has dragged both Primate Henry Ndukuba and the Dean of the Church of Nigeria (who chaired the visitation panel, Most Rev. Blessing Enyindah) to court.  

​In an effort to block the church leadership from enforcing his suspension, retirement, or disciplinary procedures, the suspended cleric has retained a battery of high-profile legal silks, including Senior Advocates of Nigeria (SANs) led by B.E.I. Nwofor, SAN, operating out of Port Harcourt, Rivers State. The originating summons and motion on notice seek court injunctions to restrain the Primate and church organs from interfering with his office or serving him letters of suspension.  

​This unprecedented decision by a serving archbishop to drag his spiritual superior and the entire communion to a secular court has left millions of Anglicans dumbfounded and deeply embarrassed. Indignant church members and observers are asking the burning question: Where is an archbishop getting the immense financial war chest required to hire multiple expensive Senior Advocates of Nigeria to fight his own mother church?

​As legal battles loom and the Bishop of Aguata Diocese, Rt. Rev. Samuel Ezeofor, officially steps in as the new Supervising Bishop of the Diocese of Awka and Coordinating Bishop of the Province of the Niger to restore stability, the scandal continues to expose deep cracks in ecclesiastical accountability, leaving the faithful praying for divine intervention to restore the sanctity and moral authority of the pulpit.