FR. SIMEON OKEZUO NWOBI, CMF APPOINTED AUXILIARY BISHOP OF AHIARA DIOCESE
by cmf
The Holy Father has appointed Auxiliary Bishop of the Apostolic Administrator sede vacante of the Diocese of Ahiara (Nigeria) the Very Rev. Fr. Simeon Okezuo Nwobi, C.M.F., assigning him the titular See of Rusgunie.
This announcement came on the 14th of October 2023. Fr. now Msgr. Nwobi, CMF will be the third bishop from the Congregation of the Claretian Missionaries in Nigeria after Bishop Wilfred Anagbe, CMF of Makurdi Diocese and Bishop Hilary Dachelem, CMF of Bauchi Diocese. He is the immediate past Provincial Superior of the Claretian Missionaries, East Nigeria Province.
Mgr. Simeon Okezuo Nwobi, CMF, was born on 25th March 1960 in Eziama Oparanadim Ekwereazu, in the Diocese of Ahiara. After joining the Congregation of the Missionary Sons of the Immaculate Heart of Mary (Claretian Missionaries), he made his First Profession on the 25th of March 1983 and undertook studies in Philosophy at the Claretian Institute of Philosophy Maryland, Nedeke, Owerri, Imo State. He studied Theology at Bigard Memorial Seminary in Enugu. He made his Perpetual Profession on the 11th of September 1988 and was ordained a priest on the 21st of July 1990 for the Claretian Congregation by Bishop Placido Rodriguez, CMF (Auxiliary bishop of Chicago).
He holds a Post Graduate Diploma in Public Administration from the Enugu State University of Science and Technology in Enugu, a Licentiate in Missiology from the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome and a Master’s degree in Public Administration from the National Open University of Nigeria.
He has held the following positions: Parish Priest at St. Anthony’s in Igbo-Ora (1990-1992); Bursar at Claretian Theology in Enugu (1992-1997); Director of the Spirituality Department at Claretian Institute of Philosophy Maryland, Nedeke (1999-2000); Professor at Bigard Memorial Seminary in Enugu (2000-2009); Provincial Vicar/Prefect of Apostolate of the Claretian Missionaries, East Nigeria Province (2005-2010); Parish Priest at St. Paul’s in Nekede (2006-2010).Provincial Superior of the Eastern Province of Nigeria of the Missionaries Sons of the Immaculate Heart of Mary (2010-2022). Chairman of the Governing Council of the Claretian Institute of Philosophy Maryland, Nekede (2010 – 2022); President of the Association of African Claretians (2019 – 2022); President of th Major Superiors of Nigeria (2019 – 2022); Governing Council Chairman of the Institute of consecrated Life in Africa in Abuja (2020 – 2022).
He is now to have charge of the Titular Episcopal See of Rusguniæ established in 1933, comprising Lapérouse, Matifou, pr. Mauritania Cesariense, Algeria. Monsignor Anthony Ireri Mukobo, I.M.C., now the Bishop of Isiolo, Kenya was its last bishop and served from December 22, 1999, to February 15, 2023. The Diocese of Ahiara erected on the 18th of November 1987 from Owerri on other hand, is currently vacant and administered by the Apostolic Administrator, Archbishop Lucius Iwejuru Ugorji of Owerri, Nigeria. On March 26, 1994, the Diocese of Owerri was elevated to a Metropolitan See, and Ahiara became one of its suffragan dioceses.
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