Gov Kayode Fayemi
The Bishop of Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion), Ekiti West Diocese, Rt. Revd. Oludare Oke, has compulsorily retired the Vicar of St. Paul’s Millennium Anglican Church, Odo Owa Ekiti, Revd. Michael Ogunniyi.
Ogunniyi was sacked for allegedly administering the donation made to the church without due process and approval.
The development was contained in a statement by the Diocesan Communicator, Mr. Sola Adetule, and Emeritus Communicator, Dr. Kunle Olasope, on Tuesday.
The bishop also appointed the Dean of the Cathedral, Very Revd. Julius Olaosebikan as supervisor of Odo Owa until Ogunniyi bows out of office.
Governor Kayode Fayemi, had on January 25 donated N5m to St. Paul’s Millennium Church during the funeral of the late Primate of the church, Archbishop Abiodun Adetiloye.
The bishop had instructed that the money be put in a fixed deposit account and to be used as an endowment fund.
But the vicar in consultation with the Provincial Church Council of St. Paul’s Millennium Church bought a bus with N3m for the purpose of evangelism and used N1m to renovate the church, while the balance was deposited in the church’s account.
The action angered the Bishop, who later demoted the Vicar from an archdeacon to a cannon. His demotion led to a protest from members of the church.
The statement said the Governor announced that the N5m was an endowment fund, adding that the Vicar’s action did not only a gross disobedience to the bishop but also a violation of the diocesan policy that no archdeacon should incur expenses in excess of N1 million without the approval of a bishop.
The statement read in part, “The vicar has of recent behaved in a disappointing way which was tantamount to inefficiency, incompetence, disloyalty, canonical disobedience, betrayal, dereliction of duty and general unruliness. In these he had declared himself unfit for the position he occupied.
“The question of Vicar Ogunniyi is therefore strictly a matter of discipline which must be maintained if the person, position and authority of bishop is not to be rubbished and dragged in the mire.
“The matter was discussed at the diocesan board meeting held at Our Saviour’s Anglican Church Ipoti Ekiti on Friday March 1, 2013. At that meeting, the bishop handed over to Canon Ogunniyi a letter of compulsory retirement, giving him six months notice to expire on August 31, 2013.”
Reacting, Ogunniyi said that although, he would be due for retirement in 2017, he had accepted the forceful retirement in good faith.
Ogunniyi, 68, said the church had been making efforts to buy a bus for evangelism in the past 15 years, adding that he did the right thing by yielding to the demands of the church council to buy the vehicle.
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