Elder Godwin Onuoha, a retired school principal, described how the United Evangelical Church, UEC, demanded that he give up the chieftaincy title that had been bestowed to him by the community's traditional leader in 1983.
Godwin Onuoha, who comes from Umuguru Nvosi in the Isiala Ngwa South LGA, revealed this at the publication of his autobiography, "My Lives and Times in Retrospect."
He said that on July 18, 1982, the UEC consecrated him as a deacon.
His 1987 ordination for the higher post of eldership, however, was cut short when the church requested he forfeits his chieftaincy title in order to become an elder of the church.
His words: “I was set apart as a Deacon on 18th July 1982 and was due to go for eldership ordination in 1987. But this was truncated by the church over my chieftaincy title taken in 1983.
“After Chief Bernard Oyoyo, as he was then called, got crowned as the traditional ruler of Isiala Nvosi autonomous community, he decided to honour a few distinguished sons of the community. I was one of those selected for the chieftaincy title.
“I referred the offer to my church and the senior elder sent me to the superintendency headquarters at Eziala, Isiala Ngwa south LGA. The pastor asked me if the chieftaincy title had any idol worship connotation. I replied negatively. He said I should go ahead and accept the offer.”
He explained that his acceptance of the chieftaincy offer and decoration sparked controversy and caused division in the church.
“After attending the preparatory classes for the eldership ordination, I was refused being examined until I renounced my chieftaincy title. But neither the church nor I was prepared to give in to the other. I returned from the examination hall disappointed and disillusioned.
“It was after a decade that I swallowed my worldly pride and societal ego and accepted another invitation to attend the eldership classes with a proviso that I must renounce my chieftaincy title. This I did, completed the classes and took the eldership examination.”