DAN UGWU
On Saturday, 24th May, 2025 the Catholic Diocese of Orlu in Imo state Nigeria, under the leadership of Bishop Augustine Ukwuoma, conferred the title “NNEOMA NWERE UGWU” on Mrs. Chioma Uzodimma, wife of the Governor of Imo State. This is one of the most prestigious awards in the Catholic Church. On the surface, this event may appear like a noble gesture with a church recognizing a woman of influence. But underneath the pageantry is a disturbing trend within sections of the Catholic Church in Nigeria, a dangerous flirtation with wealth and political power and a drift from the spiritual roots and social mission of the Church in the area.
It will take maturity, sensibility and careful observation to understand that this writing is not about maligning Mrs. Chioma Uzodimma, a demure and beautiful wife of the governor who has maintained observable ethics in public office. However, at 35 years, a mother still navigating the tender demands of motherhood, one must sincerely question the merit and timing of such a revered ecclesiastical honour by Orlu Diocese. How does a young woman, barely seasoned in public service, earn a spiritual and community title traditionally reserved for proven matriarchs of exceptional charity, moral legacy, and grassroots impact? Concerned Catholics, priests and lay faithful are worried that this award risks becoming a symbol of status politics rather than a reflection of Christian virtue.
This isn’t simply about one award or one woman. It is about what the Church is becoming especially in Nigeria. It is about how a spiritual institution, once the defender of the poor and voice of the voiceless, is now appearing to trade its prophetic identity for a place at the tables of power and how she is struggling to have her own share of filthy lucre before morality arrives. The Catholic Church that was once the sanctuary for the oppressed is increasingly seen awarding honours to the very people who, directly or indirectly, oversee a system where poverty thrives and public trust dies daily; recognising individuals across the country who are commingling public wealth to make life miserable for the vulnerable women struggling to raise their children as real NNEOMA.
Nigeria is bleeding. Her children are kidnapped, her youth unemployed, her old ones abandoned, and her mothers; true Nneomas are toiling daily in anonymity, sustaining families on near nothing and still available to sustain the Church and her ministry. If the Church must recognize “Nneoma Nwere Ugwu”, let it be those mothers in the markets, widows in the villages, nurses in broken clinics, and teachers in unpaid schools; traders in Nwaorie-Ubi struggling to save up for First Saturday devotion and rectory obligations; these are the women embodying Christ’s sacrificial love not those merely draped in the privileges of state, power and unhindered access to public funds who give a one-off donation to the Church. The Church, particularly the Catholic Church in Nigeria with its moral heritage, must beware. Her proximity to power must never outweigh her closeness and recognition of the poor. Pope Leo XIII in Rerum Novarum clearly declared the Church’s commitment to the cause of workers, the downtrodden, and the disenfranchised. The mandate was clear and reiterated by Pope Leo XIV in his current mandate of standing with the suffering, not feasting with the mighty. If the Church continues this lust for filthy lucre, using wealth as a metric for recognition, she risks becoming irrelevant to the generation that needs her most; she risks nurturing anti-clericalism and ugly modern mindsets that identifies the Church as scam. The Church must use every aspect of her life to prove herself innocent or risk being captive. Awards like these, when granted without moral clarity or grassroots testimony, serve only to erode the moral authority of the pulpit and turn the altar into a stage.
Worthy of note is the able leadership of Bishop Michael Ukpong of Umuahia diocese who has since suspended awards in his diocese and redirected attention to catechetical tasks. The bishop was quick to understand this shift of emphasis and this remains a template. The time has come to restore credibility. Let honours reflect sacrifice, not status. Let awards flow from the streets of suffering, not from government lodges. Let the Church return to the margins where Christ lived, loved, and died. If the Catholic Church in Nigeria is to be the light of the world and salt of the earth in this dark hour, she must boldly reclaim her prophetic voice; one that defends the poor, speaks truth to power, and resists the temptation of golden offerings even when she has line up of uncompleted buildings. Let the altar not be the place where truth dies quietly in exchange of crown for coin.
*Dan Ugwu*
Sacred Heart Catholic Church,
Mbutu Mbaise, Ahiara Diocese
Imo State, Nigeria.