The Most Rev. Dr. Anaezichukwu Obodo
By Magnus Aluma
Catholic Pontiff Leo XVI has appointed the Auxiliary Bishop of Enugu, Ernest Anaezichukwu Obodo, as Apostolic Administrator of the Diocese of Abakaliki.
In a translated Decree dated April 12, 2026, and made available to newsmen in Abakaliki, the Ebonyi State capital, the Pope declared the Episcopal See of late Bishop Peter Nworie Chukwu vacant following his death, and accordingly appointed Ernest Anaezichukwu Obodo as Apostolic Administrator of the Diocese.
NewsBits recalls that Bishop Chukwu was the 3rd Catholic Bishop of Abakaliki Diocese. He died at the age of 60, shortly after a kidney transplant in Abuja hospital, in the early hours of Friday, April 10, 2026.
According to the translated Decree, “since, through the pious death of His Excellency and Most Reverend Lord Peter Nworie Chukwu, Bishop of Abakaliki in Nigeria, the episcopal see has become vacant, this Dicastery, wishing to provide for the governance of the same vacant Diocese, having carefully considered all matters and by virtue of the special faculties granted to it by Our Most Holy Lord, Pope Leo XIV, by Divine Providence, appoints and constitutes His Excellency and Most Reverend Lord Ernest Anaezichukwu Obodo, Auxiliary Bishop of Enugu, as Apostolic Administrator of the Diocese of Abakaliki, during the vacancy of the see and at the disposition of the Holy See. To him are granted all the faculties which the law accords to an Apostolic Administrator.”
The decree further states that the arrangement was in accordance with the Roman Catholic Tradition at the offices of the Dicastery for Evangelisation, and was issued on the 12th day of April, 2026. The newly appointed Administrator is expected to pilot the affairs of the Diocese, pending the consecration of a new bishop for the diocese.
