The governor of Akwa Ibom state Pastor Umo Eno has asked the Archbishop of the Calabar Diocese Joseph Ekuwem to consider settling back home in Akwa Ibom State as he begins to wind down his tenure in Office.
Governor Eno who said this when he joined his counterpart in Cross River State, Governor Bassey Otu, to celebrate the episcopal ordination of the sister state’s first indigenous Catholic Bishop, Rt. Reverend Christopher Naseri, as the Auxiliary Bishop of Calabar Archdiocese, said that he knows the Archbishop Ekuwem, has a choice on where to settle.
He said “We trust that as you begin to wind down your tenure in Office, you will consider settling back home in Akwa Ibom State.”
“We know you have a choice on where to settle, but we are also making an offer that we will be ready to receive you back home because we need our spiritual fathers now,” he continued.
“You are aware that God has recently called to glory, one of our greatest fathers-in-faith, our father Prelate Sunday Mbang and you know that we need fathers like you to continue to pray for our State.”
While commending the Archbishop Joseph Ekuwem of the Calabar Diocese for his selfless services to the church and humanity over the decades, the governor re-echoed his regrets over the recent loss of the Methodist Prelate Emeritus, Sunday Mbang, and solicited the homecoming of the Archbishop Ekuwem upon his retirement to play the most needed spiritual fatherly role in his state of origin.
In his homily, the Archbishop Joseph Ekuwem while thanking the Governor for his magnanimity, admonished him to see his position as a call to service to humanity by God Almighty.
The Press unit of the governor reports that the event which was held at Saint Paul’s Parish, University of Calabar, Calabar had in attendance, the Óbóng of Calabar, Edidem Ekpo Okon Abasi -Otu V. Vice Chancellor, University of Calabar, Prof Florence Obi, Archbishop of Malabo, Equitorial Guinea, Nsue Edjang, Bishops Camillus Umoh and John Ebebe Aya of the of Ikot Ekpene and Uyo Catholic Dioceses, among others.