Professor Chidi Anselm Odinkalu, CGoF, has questioned the source of funds being used by the suspended Archbishop of the Province of the Niger and Bishop of the Diocese of Awka, Most Rev. Alexander Chibuzo Ibezim, to prosecute his ongoing legal battles arising from allegations concerning the management and disposal of church properties.
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Odinkalu, a former Chairman of the National Human Rights Commission, raised the question in a post on X, where he criticised what he described as attempts by the Archbishop to resist an independent investigation into allegations involving church land transactions reportedly valued at more than ₦2 billion.
“Suspected of fleecing the Church of over N2bn Naira in shady land deals, the suspended Archbishop of the Anglican Province of the Niger, Alexander Ibezim, seems unwilling to allow an independent investigation into the allegations,” Odinkalu wrote.
He further alleged that Ibezim had previously obtained court orders concerning the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission and had now engaged Senior Advocates of Nigeria in fresh proceedings against the hierarchy of the Church of Nigeria.
“He reportedly procured court orders against @officialEFCC and has now hired very expensive #SANs led by one in Port Harcourt to procure court orders to stop the church hierarchy from investigating the allegations or suspending him,” he said.
Odinkalu then posed the question: “Reasonable people are entitled to ask: Where is he getting the money from?!”
His post was accompanied by images of the first pages of the originating summons and motion on notice filed by Ibezim at the High Court of Anambra State, Awka Judicial Division.
The court documents show that Ibezim instituted Suit No. A/371/2026 against the Primate of the Church of Nigeria, Most Rev. Henry C. Ndukuba, and the Dean of the Church, Most Rev. Blessing Enyindah, who also chaired the Visitation Team to the Diocese of Awka.
The originating summons, dated October 13, 2026, was taken out by B. E. I. Nwofor, SAN, alongside Dr. O. O. Komolafe and C. S. Ikeria, Esq., with an address for service in Awka through the chambers of Chief Ozoemena Onyali, SAN.
Ibezim is asking the court, among other reliefs, to restrain the Church leadership from suspending, removing, retiring or otherwise truncating his tenure without first complying with the disciplinary procedures contained in the Constitution and Canons of the Church of Nigeria.
He also filed a motion on notice seeking interlocutory injunctions against disciplinary measures pending the determination of the substantive suit.
Odinkalu’s intervention, however, shifts attention from the legality of the Church’s disciplinary process to the cost and funding of the Archbishop’s legal representation.
While he described the Senior Advocates engaged by Ibezim as “very expensive,” the court processes do not disclose the professional fees charged by the lawyers, who is paying those fees or the source of the funds being used for the litigation.
Similarly, Odinkalu’s reference to the Archbishop as being suspected of “fleecing” the Church of more than ₦2 billion remains an allegation. No court has, on the materials presently available, made a finding that Ibezim misappropriated that amount.
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