By John Ikani
The Catholic Diocese of Gboko, Benue State, has announced the suspension of one of its priests, Reverend Father Hyacinth Jormen Alia, following reports that he had joined the 2023 governorship race in Benue State.
Alia had, in April 2022, declared his intention to contest the 2023 governorship election in Benue state on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
He had also submitted his nomination and expression of interest forms earlier in May.
Speaking at a media briefing on May 11, Alia had said his mission was to ensure that government continues to prioritise the needs of residents.
“Benue is broken enough and it’s time to fix it. I joined partisan politics to salvage the state from collapse,” he had said at the roll-out of his seven-point agenda for the state.
But in the letter addressed to all priests, religious leaders, and congregation, the Catholic Bishop of the Gboko Diocese, Willam Avenya, said Father Alia had been barred from public ministry until “he ceases from contumacy (stubborn refusal to obey or comply with authority)”.
The letter titled, ‘Suspension of Rev. Fr. Hyacinth Iormem Alia from Sacred Ministry’ partly read:
“I write to communicate to you the suspension of my priest, Revd. Fr. Hyacinth lormem Alia from public ministry after series of admonitions to him.
“The Mother Church does not allow her clerics to get involved in partisan politics on their own. You are aware that my son, your brother and your priest has purchased the party forms to contest for the Office of the Governor of Benue State under the All Progressives’ Congress (APC), which is totally against our vocation.
“Therefore, to respond to the spiritual and pastoral needs of the Church in the Catholic Diocese of Gboko, I have suspended him from the exercise of sacred ministry.
“This canonical suspension takes effect from the moment it is communicated to him and lasts until he ceases from contumacy.”
Reacting to the suspension of the priest, the Head of Media and Publicity, Alia 2023 Gubernatorial Organization, Mr. Kula Tersoo, in a statement, described the development as ‘a normal practice of the church’.
According to him: “For the avoidance of doubt, Rev. Hyacinth Alia is only suspended from celebrating public Euchsristic masses. He is not suspended from being a priest of the Catholic Church and even when his tenure as a public servant, he shall resume his public masses and ministry. It was a normal practice of the church.
“Rev. Alia remains resolute as in his quest to redeem Benue people from bad governance and we urge his supporters not to be anxious because he is well prepared and focused after seeing the genuineness in agitations for him to step in and help salvage the situation in the state.
“You will recall that a former Governor of Benue State, the late Rev. Fr. Moses Orshio Adasu, who served as the second civilian governor was also a Catholic priest and had gone through the same process,” Tersoo said.
