The Church of Nigeria, Anglican Communion, is in mourning following the death of its former Dean, Archbishop Maxwell Anikwenwa. The announcement was made in a press statement issued by the Secretary General of the Church of Nigeria, Bishop Anthony Poggo, on Monday. According to the statement, Archbishop Anikwenwa passed away on Monday, March 13, after “years of meritorious and faithful service to God and humanity.” The Most Rev’d Maxwell Anikwenwa was called to glory on that day.
Archbishop Anikwenwa, who served as the former Archbishop of Province II and retired Bishop of the Awka Diocese, was 83 years old at the time of his death. He was born in Anambra State in 1940 and educated at Trinity Theological College, Umuahia. He was ordained a deacon in 1964 and a priest in December 1966, serving in Onitsha and Freetown. In 1987 he was appointed the first Bishop of Awka, became Archbishop of the Niger in 2000, and also served as Dean of the Church of Nigeria. He retired from all three positions on 22 November 2010.
The statement concluded with a prayer: “May God comfort his family, the Diocese of Awka, Province of the Niger and the Church of Nigeria as a whole and grant him eternal rest.”
Reacting to the loss, the Archbishop of the Province of the Niger and Bishop of the Anglican Diocese of Awka, Most Reverend Alexander Chibuzo Ibezim, PhD, said the death has thrown the entire diocese into mourning. Archbishop Ibezim described the late prelate as a hero of ecumenism and evangelism, whose legacy in the Church of Christ and the Anglican Communion cannot be dismissed. He prayed that God grant Anikwenwa’s soul eternal repose and lamented that Anglicans worldwide, especially in Anambra State, have lost a Christian father.
A press statement by Comrade Odogwu Emeka Odogwu, PhD, Director of Media and Communication for the Province of the Niger and Diocese of Awka, on behalf of Archbishop Ibezim, also noted that the late Archbishop Anikwenwa had voted in the most recent presidential elections.
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