Anglican Church Battles Chime

The simmering dispute
between the Anglican Church and the Enugu State Government has deepened leading to a shut-down of activities in some parts of the state.
The latest crisis followed moves by the Enugu State Government to reclaim some schools owned by the church. Before now, the leadership of the Anlican Church in the State had consistently accused the Chime-led government of having some bias against it.
The state government had few days ago informed the Anglican Church of it’s plan to take over many of its schools including the ones inside the popular Women Trade Center (WTC) located in Ogui New Layout.
But, in a bid to frustrate the plan by the state government, the Anglican Diocese of Enugu under the leadership of Rt. Rev. Emmanuel Chukwuma locked the gates of WTC and prevented teachers and students from entering  for academic activities on Thursday.
Our correspondent who visited the scene of the peaceful protest sighted many priests of the Anglican Church and students with placards with different inscriptions near the gate of WTC.
The ugly development obstructed Vehicular and commercial activities for several hours.
Speaking with reporters, the Enugu Anglican Diocesan Education Secretary, Venerable David Emenike Agbo said they wanted to register their displeasure over the refusal of Enugu State Government to hand over their schools to them. He said only few days ago, the state government had informed them of its decision to re-posses some of their schools which the same government had earlier handed over to them.
He expressed regrets that government could embark on such action even when the matter was still pending in court.
According to him, the church had already gotten an injunction restraining government from re-possesing the schools and urged the state government to re-consider its moves.
However, in a swift reaction, the Enugu State Government explained that In 2009, the State Government handed over all schools hitherto owned by Christian Missions (Churches) to their original owners. In a statement issued by Professor Uchehukwu Christopher Okoro, the Commissioner For Education, he stated that following public complaints that some Government Schools had been handed over to some Missions, the State Government set up a committee to investigate the claims.
According to him, the Committee finished its work and submitted to government, adding that following the report, the Government directed the State Ministry of Education to re-possess the affected Schools and inform their ‘new’ owners accordingly.