ST. STEPHEN’S ANGLICAN CHURCH
In the 1950s, there existed what was then known as Niger Angic mainstream of Yoruba Churches in Lagos, which accommodated th Group of Churches in Lagos. These Churches were integral part of th lbos to worship in their own language since some of the Ibo speaki worshippers could neither understand and speak English, nor spe Yoruba language. However, between 1961 and 1963, this arrangement was allegedly breached when the centrifugal forces within the Church then began to exploit our diversity to expand the attacks and even making religious capital out of them. The problem degenerated to the Paul’s Church. Idi-Oro were to receive the Holy Communion to be extent that, on a particular Sunday when the Ibos worshipping at St administered by Rev. S.A. Elenwa (who later changed his name to elenwo), the authorities of the Church asked the Sexton not to open the Church for them. Since the coordinating priest, Rev. S.A. Elenwa (Vicar of B.T.M Church, the first Igbo speaking Church in Lagos) had prepared for the Holy Communion; the Ibos had no option than to organise seats and stayed on the Railway Line. With this development, a member who happened to be a staff of West African Pilot news papers called the pri media to come and cover the celebration of Holy Eucharist on the Railway Line which the paper carried. The then Bishop, Rt. Rev. Segun frowned at the development. This unfortunate incident precipitated the crisis the more as other Yoruba Churches started to discriminate. This deliberate attempt at frustrating the Ibo extraction rather than achieve its desired objective prompted some prominent Ibo members in the various Churches to launch out and look for a way out of the imbroglio. Mr. Amos Nwaonomiwu’s house at No. 7, Shiro Street, Fadeyi became the meeting point.
This vision further received a boost when some of these people began to contribute their time and money to ensure that the church is strengthened. According to them, the mission must be accomplished so that those that planned for their failure and possible extermination will realise that God Almighty is not of any particular ethnic group.
Some of the Churches (Ibo section) that came together to start the initial amalgamation to form a single Church called St. Stephen’s Church include:
(1) St. Paul’s (Ibo Section), Odi-Olowo (now Idi-Oro): From the records, this Church started in May, 1946 with one Mr. Okafor as the leader. Between 1947 and 1958, Messrs Benjamin Ogbonna, Daniel M. Ibekwe, B.N. Okoma and G.N. Amadi were licenced Lay-readers and later the membership of the Church started increasing. By 1963 they had a committee of 12 people to oversee the Church with Mr. D.M. Ibekwe as Chairman, Mr. A.C.F. Oguoma as Secretary and Mr. Amos Nwaononiwu as Treasurer.
(2) St. Jude’s (Ibo Section), Odi-Olowo This arm was founded on January 2, 1955 by Messrs S.O. Aniemena and Isaiah Chioma, both were formerly of St. Paul’s, Odi-Olowo. The Church grew gradually and at a time, the membership rose to about 17 worshippers. One Mr. E. Okoli Ukatta came from St. Paul’s Odi-Olowo with seven Choristers to join them at St. Jude’s. At this stage the Church was recording about 500 worshippers. They had no licenced Lay-reader but had as the service conductors one Mr. Emmanuel Achike and a few others.
In 1958 the church had its first licenced Lay-reader in the person of Mr. Godson M.A. Opara, followed shortly by Mr. Alexander Osuagwu who along with Mr. E. Okoli Ukatta (Lay-reader in training and Choir Master then) led the Church.
(3) St. Paul’s (Ibo Section), Shomolu: Chief F.S.N. Ekeugo founded this Ibo Church with the help of Rev. H.N. Hunter, an Army Chaplain. It had its inaugural service in January, 1957 under the leadership of Mr. B.O. Nwokolo. The Church grew rapidly and in April 6, 1960, the senior Lay Reader and leader, Mr. B.O. Nwokolo passed on and Mr. N. Okome took the mantle of leadership and was assisted by Chief F.S.N. Ekeugo. Through these years, the Church grew and flourished until they joined St. Stephen’s in 1964.
One of the assets they brought along with them to St. Stephen’s was two plots of land at Alhaji Elias Layout at Shomolu, which they in collaboration with St. Jude’s (Ibo Section) Odi-Olowo had earlier bought to build a Church.
(4) St. Saviours (Ibo Section), Abule-Ijesha: Before the birth of this Church in 1958, some Ibo speaking people in Lagos have been attending Sunday services at either St. Jude’s Church, Odi-Olowo or All Saints Church, Yaba. An approach was made to the leadership of St.
Ibos can use their Church to conduct their services.
The first service was held on the 7th of December, 1958 and about 63 worshippers including children were in attendance.
They had as their leaders Messrs Alphonsus Ekechukwu and Sydney Holy Communion as occasion demands. They also had Mr. C.S. Nwachukwu with Rev, H.N. Hunter as the visiting Priest to administer Emenayom as the Lay Reader in training. At the time of joining St. Stephen in 1964, the Church had Mr. A. Ekechukwu as Chairman of the Nwachukwu as Treasurer and Mr. Ebenezer Tashie as the Pastor’s Committee, Mr. Reuben E. Onuoha as Secretary, Mr. Nathaniel Warden.
Having experienced one kind of discrimination, victimisation, or discomfort in their various Churches, the Churches (Ibo section) decided to come together and form one big Church.
In view of this development, Mr. Benjamin Nwalema (late) negotiated and acquired a piece of land in 1958 at a cost of Six Hundred Pounds (£600). This sum was later financed by the St. Paul’s Church (Ibo Section), Idi-Oro with assistance from the Central Committee of the Niger Anglican Group of Churches in Lagos. The Niger Anglican Group of Churches was a conglomeration of Ibos worshipping in various Yoruba Churches in Lagos. Further compulsory levy (of ten shillings) was instituted whereby a small red card was given to every member on payment of the levy as a ticket to enter into the land nicknamed “God’s Kingdom”. The land Conveyance dated 27th August, 1958 was obtained bearing the names of Rt. Rev. A.W. Howells (the then Bishop of Lagos) Rev. F.O. Segun and Justice Adefarasin as Trustees of the Church. It is on record that on the first day the land was used for worship, the bush was cleared with legs as no one brought cutlass to the venue. This was in 1963.
The steady advance towards the erection of the Church building met a little set-back as the then Lagos Town Council (“LCC”) acquired back the land for development in 1959.
On 27th January, 1963, the year Bishop Howells died, the land was re-acquired by the Church from the LCC. Later in the same year, a temporary Church building was started at a cost of Three Hundred and Fifty Pounds (£350) but was later demolished by the same LCC for no Just cause
Amalgamation: With the ugly experiences of the various sections of The Churches, which had earlier been mentioned above, a vision to unite and form a single big Church was muted. Accordinghs in February 1963, an inaugural service was held at St. Jude’s Church: Odi-Olowo officiated by the Senior Lay Reader Mr. R.O. Nwokolo. This was to amalgamate St. Paul’s (Ibo Section) Odi-Olowo, St. Jude’s (Ibo Section), Odi-Olowo and St. Paul’s (lbo Section), Shomolu into one big the Church on the Mainland of Lagos,
To set action in motion, a Building Committee was formed with Messrs Eleazer Ononiwu (Chairman), Benjamin Nwalema (Treasurer), K.C. Ikegwuonu (General Secretary), and S.O. Chinagorom (Financial Secretary). The Committee was inaugurated by a Senior Lay-reader Mr LLE. Okoye who later became a priest.
On the 28″ of February 1964, all bank accounts of the amalgamating Churches were merged into one account and the total amount realised was Two thousand three hundred and eighty pounds five shillings (£2.380-5-0). Undaunted by the paucity of funds, a Fund Raising Committee was set up with Mr. D.M. Ibekwe as its Chairman. This Committee was later transformed into Works Committee and was empowered to negotiate and contract the building of the Church on behalf of the Parochial Committee. In order to further raise enough money ney for the building project, loans were also sought and obtained from members of the Church.
The Works committee with less than £4,000-0-0 in its coffer employed the services of Nwoke Builders. On the 17th March, 1964 the Nwoke Builders set its Foundation pegs. After about 173 days, that is, on the 5th September, 1964 to be precise, and with over 2000 worshippers from all walks of life in attendance, the then Lord Bishop of Lagos, the Rt. Rev, S.1. Kale laid the foundation stone of the Church Building. He was assisted by Rev. Samuel Elenwo who was in charge of Ibo Churches in Lagos (under the Niger Group of Churches), Rev, Vincent of the Yoruba Church, Rev. Hunter of the Army Chaplaincy and the Bishop’s Chaplain, Rev. R.V. Enshaw-Smith. The Church, which was initially, called All Saints Church; Igbobi was immediately renamed ST. STEPHEN’S CHURCH, IGBOBI as an evidence of the martyrdom of Stephen.
FOUNDATIONAL CHALLENGES
Effect of the Nigerian Civil War
The Church began to march on spiritually, economically and with a well set-up administration until the beginning of the Nigeria civil crisis in 1966. As a result of the crisis many of the lbos from the east of the Niger left Lagos and returned to their homes in the east. Only a few from the West of the Niger remained to carry on the work of the Church. These few took the bull by the horn and did everything within their powers to sustain and keep the Church going.
At that time. Mr. Eleazer Osakwe took over the leadership of the Church while Rev. Elenwo continued to come to administer the Holy Communion when necessary. He had some people to assist him such as Mr. Jimmy Onyije, Nathan B. Obah, just to mention a few. At a time however, there arose a misunderstanding between the Church leaders and the Choir about doctrine and the method of conducting Church service. Due to this minor rift, Mr. Eleazer Osakwe was seconded to All Saints Church, Yaba for a refresher and training. It was then that Mr. Stephen Ogo Okeke, who was a Senior Lay Reader then, was posted to St. Stephen’s Church as an administrator and Lay Reader in charge. He equally had so many assistants to help him conduct services as well as administration.
The Crisis of a Woman Preacher
During this period, an incident nearly divided the Church. Mrs. Phoebe Okehi, a member of B.T.M. Church was the first Ibo female Lay Reader. When she was made a Lay Reader, the male Igbos protested against it citing the biblical injunction of Apostle Paul that women should rather keep silent in the Church and not to preach. The Bishop, Rt. Rev. Segun explained that it was for her to help co-ordinate the women since the wife of the then coordinating priest, Mrs. Elenwa was late.
One Sunday on an exchange of pulpit, she was sent to preach at St. Stephen’s Church, Igbobi. The Parochial Church Committee (P.C.C.) met and agreed that Mrs. Phoebe Okehi will be allowed to use the lectern to discharge her functions that day but not to preach the sermon as Mr. Berthram Okeoma was to preach the sermon.
On that day, the Senior Lay Reader, Mr. D.M.C. Ibekwe tactfully did not attend the Church service having sensed what would happen. The then women leader in St. Stephen’s Church was Mrs. Okeke. When Mrs. Phoebe Okehi arrived, she was informed of the decision of the P.C.C. On the contrary, armed with the authority of the Bishop, she climbed the Pulpit and joined Mr. Berthram Okeoma who was already on the Pulpit and over-powered him as she was of a huge statue. With this development, the male members of the Church left in protest that a woman had come to preach to them. The Choir joined in solidarity with the Church. However, the female members stayed behind in solidarity with their fellow woman who had come to preach and was being rejected by the Church authority.
This brought about a very big problem in the Church that led to the suspension of the coordinating Lay Reader, Mr. D.M.C. Ibekwe by the Bishop. The Bishop further placed embargo on baptism, weddings, confirmation and all the rest to serve as deterrent. At this juncture, the Church authority decided to move out of the Diocese of Lagos and join the Army Chaplaincy led by Rev. Hunter of Ijaw origin. He agreed to administer all those services. This was made possible because the Army Chaplaincy do not belong to any Diocese, as they are autonomous. As the problem lingered and the Diocese was no longer comfortable with the decision of the Church to stop paying assessment and other levies to the Diocese, a truce was finally brokered by the Bishop and peace returned and the Church came back to the Diocese.
At the end of the crisis in 1970, some of the old members who left for the east started to return. Unfortunately, an attempt by some of them to return to their old positions which they occupied before they left Lagos for the east met with stiff resistance. This development created some problems and bad blood as it were.
During the civil war, the Church Sexton was Mr. Benjamin Ezeji; the Choirmaster was Mr. Josiah Amadi (Mexico -Nwataeze). He was assisted by Mr. Christian Okoh. The Organist was Mr. Brown Samuel Mordi while Mr. Moses Ulanya was the Secretary of the Choir. Mr. Edwin Nwankpa served as his Assistant. Mrs. Catherine Obah, Mrs. Christiana Atuekwe and Mrs. Theresa Okeke were the women leaders.
Following spiritual growth and evangelism within the Church, it became apparent that there was the need to elevate the status of the Ibos in the area of priesthood.
Accordingly, some Ibo indigenes mostly senior civil servants such as Rev. Lawrence C. Nwaka, Rev. I. Ogboe, Rev. FA Madudonu, Rev. R.I. Iwuchukwu, Rev. S.O. Okeke, Rev. A.C. Izuakor, etc. were drafted and ordained as Priests. Though Rev. Okeke’s ordination was greeted with lots of petitions, the Youths staged a demonstration at the Bishop’s Court in favour of his ordination, which eventually took place in 1975.
Rev. Okeke therefore became the first indigenous Priest of St. Stephen’s Church, Igbobi in 1975. The following are the Vicars who administered the Church till date:
- The Rev. Stephen Ogo Okeke 1975-1978
- The Rev. F.A. Madudonu 1978-1982
3.The Rev. Canon A.C. Izuako 1982-1998
4.The Rev. Canon C.A. Maduoma 1998-1999
5.The Rev. Canon Ben. Nwanekwu 1999-2001
6.The Rev. Canon Obinna Ulogwara 2001-2005
Ven. Francis C. Akunne 2010-date
Ven. Godwin I. Onuoha 2005-2010