2nd Anniversary of the Enthronement of His Eminence, Most Rev. Henry Ndukuba
By Ben Ngwakwe, Gombe
March 25, 2020, marked the Second Anniversary of the official enthronement of His Eminence, Most Rev. Henry Ndukuba, as the Primate of the Church of Nigeria, Anglican Communion.
Incidentally, His Grace, Most Rev. Henry Ndukuba was the 5th Archbishop, Metropolitan and Primate, Church of Nigeria, Anglican Communion.
Prior to the appointment of this pragmatic and indefatigable leader, His Grace, Most Rev Henry Ndukuba was Archbishop of Jos and he was consecrated as the First Bishop of the Diocese of Gombe on 21st September 1999 at the age of 38 years.
This humble servant of God was elected in September 2019 to physically and spiritually Head the Church of God, Anglican Communion in Nigeria and he was installed on 25th March 2020 making it practically two years of eventful, fruitful, increase in missions, evangelism and church expansion of Anglican church both numerically and growth under his leadership.
No doubt that the Bible says, “When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice…”.
This pragmatic leader of a great assembly of faithful Christians is a blessing to his generation and unborn generation when it comes to things of God.
He is practically a “General”, “a field marshal” and he continues to demonstrate Christ in him that radiates the love of God compassion, charity, faith and service to God and humanity regardless of creed.
The Coordinating Bishop of the Church of Nigeria North America Mission,(CONNAM), Rt.Rev.Dr.Felix Orji recently described the Ministry of the Primate Church of Nigeria, Most Rev. Henry Ndukuba, as “exemplary and model for others in the Church of Nigeria, (Anglican Communion) and the Global Anglican Future Conference (GAFCON) to emulate”.
Rt. Rev Orji went further to appreciate the mission focus and prioritization of the reign of God by the Primate saying that Henry Ndukuba has demonstrated, “what it means to be a godly, irenic, evangelistic, mission-minded, gracious and disciplined leader”.
On the doggedness and versatility of Ndukuba’s ministry, Dr Orji said, “Your Grace’s record of rugged evangelism in Northern Nigeria, of suffering and courage for the sake of the gospel is remarkable”.
“We believe that by the end of your primacy, we will look back with thanks to God that this season was indeed a season in which we experienced and submitted ourselves to the reign of God in all aspects of the Church of Nigeria.
Thank you for being a good example and model for us in the Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion) and the Global Anglican Future Conference (GAFCON).”
No doubt, the Deputy Governor of Gombe State Hon. Manassah Daniel Jatau, PhD pointed out recently while admonishing the qualities of leadership based on his experience and writings as a scholar put these qualities as a guide.
The Deputy Governor said, ” the way you Adore your calabash, that is how others will adore it”.
Secondly, “leaders through history always leave a legacy. No leader has ever escaped this. The question however comes about on whether it was a good or bad legacy that you left”.
Thirdly, “leaders should as pointed out by one of the Biblical authors” do the work of the master that sent them before night comes when no man works”.
Fourthly ” leaders must refrain from careless, flippant and unguarded talks and statements”.
Finally, the Deputy Governor said, “please and please have relevant knowledge of your environment, so that you can respond to issues intelligently and not be caught napping your usually baseless, unsubstantiated claims by the other actors in the arena of politics”.
These qualities pointed out by the Deputy Governor of Gombe State is relevant in the life and action of leaders but our Primate is a leader of leaders encapsulated in knowledge, exposure, experience, administration, liturgically grounded, biblical scholar and a Priest of Most High God.
His Grace, Most Rev.Henry Ndukuba has served and continues to serve the church of Nigeria, Anglican Communion in various capacities faithfully, patiently, dedicatedly, honestly, patriotically which speaks volumes and also challenges the assuming pastors and priests that hardworking, dedication, commitment, faithfulness pays at the end as demonstrated in the life and ministry of Henry Ndukuba.
He was an ordained Priest in 1984, Bishop of Gombe from 1999-2020, Archbishop of Jos from 2017 – 2020, Archbishop of Anglican Province of Abuja 2020 till date, Bishop of Abuja 2020 till date and he was consecrated in September 1999 by J.Abiodun Adetiloye.
The Primate attended the prestigious Princeton Theological Seminary where he obtained a Masters’s Degree, the quest for further education made him join Durham University for his (MA) and Theological College of Northern Nigeria for his BD respectfully.
He has attended conferences, seminars, workshops and symposiums locally, nationally and internationally, and has received many various awards and conferment of Doctoral Degree of Philosophy.
He is an erudite scholar, an orator, an administrator par excellence, a mobilizer and a mission-minded Primate.
However, the reasons why a lot of leaders, be it politically, conventionally, secular or religious failed in their functions and duties is simply because they will not accept truth as true. God who is “all-knowing”, knows why the people rejoice whenever the righteous are in authority, Proverbs 29:2.
Another legacy of the Primate is that ” honest people are happy and free”, because the righteous man is in authority.
Another benefit is that a righteous man is in authority because he has an open book. He is honest and he has no bad motives toward his people and he doesn’t act selfishly, doing what he does to see what he can get out of others.
Another guiding legacy of the Primate is that he has a set of principles and those principles are well known he behaves according to those principles to achieve better and godly results in order to match the Church of God, Anglican Communion forward.
Incidentally, most of us think a righteous person is someone who is doing what we want him to do but a righteous man means doing the right thing at the right time, no matter the pains and suffering to achieve the setup goals, not to bend rules and regulations or compromising certain things for selfish interest.
The life and ministry of the Primate, Henry Ndukuba is like a golden fish that has no hiding place which his two years as the Archbishop, Metropolitan and Primate Church of Nigeria can attest to all these submissions made therein.
No doubt, the new Primate of the Anglican church in Nigeria laid the maker for his Primacy when he declared that “it is a decade of the reign of God”.
He prophetically noted that” you cannot serve the Lord, Jesus Christ and faithfully follow him without suffering”.
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Within these two years of their Presentation as the Primate, he has done practically well and transformed the Church of God Anglican church into the highest pinnacles of responsibility in the period under review.
Meanwhile, with the enthronement as Bishop of Abuja and formal presentation as the Archbishop, Metropolitan and Primate of All Nigeria, His Grace, Most Rev. Henry Ndukuba is a blessing to humanity and his generation.
Born on 18th July 1961, in Imo State, Henry Chukwudum Ndukuba who served most of his pastoral works in the North is the current 5th Archbishop, Metropolitan and Primate of the Church of Nigeria.
He is a great achiever, an accomplished servant of God, a role model, a bridge-builder, a quintessential ecclesiastical frontline leader, a gifted orator, a trailblazer, mentor, teacher, author, liturgist, an apostle, respected family man and community leader.
His Grace, Most Rev Henry Ndukuba has served and continues to serve the Anglican Church in various capacities and responsibilities as Archbishop of Anglican Province of Jos, Pioneer Bishop of Diocese of Gombe, elected on September 2019 and installed on March 25th,2020 as Archbishop of Anglican Province of Abuja 2020, Metropolitan Bishop of Abuja and Primate at the Cathedral Church of the Advent, Life Camp, Abuja on March 25, 2020.
The story of His Grace, Most Rev, Henry Ndukuba who celebrated his birthday recently after the burial of his beloved mother in May 2021 is a story of someone who is blessed by God, someone who lives a life of impact, someone who values humanity, someone who always wants to change the story, the narrative, status- quo, someone desirous to make things better; someone who is hungry for us as Christians to change our story.
He was Archbishop of Anglican Province of Jos from 2017- 2020, Bishop of Gombe from 2017- 2020 despite other responsibilities he left his footprint in the service of Gombe State both secular and religious.
This young Henry who celebrated his diamond age of 60 years was ordained in 1984 in Kano by Bishop B.B.Ayam at the age of 23 and was consecrated in September 1999 by J. Abiodun Adetiloye, and is blessed with six beautiful, dedicated, loving and godly children from his union with Angela Ebere, his wife who is another blessing God gave the young Henry in his pastoral journeys to the highest pinnacle of responsibility and leadership as the Primate of All Nigeria Anglican Communion at a critical time in the life of the church and Nation.
No doubt that the Bible was categorically when it said, “When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice; but when the wicked man rules, the people groan and sigh”, both Christians and Non- Christians were happy over his leadership qualities and the way and manner he is leading them into the “promised land”.
Those who knew him attested that His Grace, Most Rev, Henry Ndukuba is not a noisemaker, an embodiment of simplicity, humility, dedication and hard work but silently matching the gospel with actions and transformational agenda forward to the glory of God.
It could be recalled that the process of becoming the Primate is not an easy task but tedious and prayerful hence His Grace, Most Rev Henry Ndukuba started it with the election by the Episcopal Synod of the Church of Nigeria which met at St. Peter’s Cathedral, Asaba on 24th, September 2019 and God in his infinite goodness and mercy sustained him and preserved him throughout the rigorous activities of the time.
Meanwhile, great men who have occupied the exalted office since the inauguration of the Church of Nigeria as a Province of the Anglican Communion in 1999 are His Grace, Most Reverends Timothy Olufosoye from 1979-1988, Joseph Adetiloye 1988- 1999, Peter Akinola 2000- 2010, Nicholas Okoh 2010- 2020 and the Henry Ndukuba the current Primate whose tenure will end on 25th March 2030.
Henry Ndukuba is indeed a blessing to the human race as his humanness has no bounds and his love of his neighbours irrespective of their religion, ethnicity, tradition and culture are personified while wishing him happy birthday but we also prayed for more blessings, divine preservation, good health and the spirit to continue doing the good works God Almighty has assigned to you for the glory of God and for the spread of the gospel.
Chief Ben Ngwakwe is his Media aide for over 20 years in Gombe State.
