THE Church of Nigeria, Anglican Communion, will, on Tuesday, in Umuahia, Abia State, elect a new primate, the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) authoritatively learnt.
The incumbent, Archbishop Peter Akinola, is due to retire in March 2010 and, according to the canons of the church, a successor should emerge, at least, three months before the retirement of his predecessor.
An official of the church, who pleaded anonymity, said the primate would be elected during the meeting of the Standing Committee of the church scheduled to hold between today and Saturday.
The committee is a biannual meeting that brings together all the bishops, delegates from the clergy and laity of the church from all the dioceses under the Nigerian province.
“Election of a new primate is top on the agenda for the bishops’ meeting today while a meeting of the House of Bishops will hold tomorrow,” the source said.
NAN reported that about 160 bishops were expected to elect the new primate for the 20-million Anglicans in Nigeria, inside the Cathedral of St. Stephen in the Diocese of Umuahia, through secret balloting.
Already, a meeting of the Church of Nigeria Advisory Committee had been summoned on Monday morning in Umuahia for the purpose of advising the House of Bishops, in writing, the qualification and qualities required in the primate.
The successful candidate must garner, at least, three quarters of the ballots and while the election holds, the bishops would be totally cut-off from any communication from the outside world.
Analysts said so far, there were no clear favourites, but NAN learnt from sources that Archbishops Nicholas Okoh of the Bendel Province, Benjamin Kwashi of the Jos Province and Edmund Akanya of the Kaduna Province are favoured candidates.
NAN reported that the Office of the Primate became vacant when the incumbent had held office for 10 years or attained the age of 70.
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