By Nahum Sule
The Nigerian Immigration has been unlawfully detaining a Zimbabwean Bishop of the United Methodist Church Bishop Eben K. Nhiwatiwa in its headquarters despite having all required documents.
The Zimbabwean United Methodist Church Bishop Nhiwatiwa who came into Nigeria on the 21 August 2024 through the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport Abuja, is in Nigeria to meet with follow members of the United Methodist Church in Nigeria (UMCN) to kick start the process of electing a new Bishop of the church in Nigeria after the resignation of the formal Nigerian Bishop John Wesley Yohanna.
Bishop Nhiwatiwa however arrived Yola Town, Adamawa state venue for the first meeting with the members of the Southern Nigerian Annual Conference of the United Methodist church in Nigeria but was on Friday 23 August 2024, whisked away at the venue of the meeting by the Nigerian Immigration officers Adamawa state Command for questioning, after several hours of detention in the Yola Immigration office, Bishop Nhiwatiwa was later confined to his hotel with immigration guards before being taken to Abuja on Saturday 24 August 2024 in company of an Immigration officer to the Immigration Headquarters in Abuja Nigeria’s capital where he is currently detained.
A Journalist with Voice of Nigeria Salisu Waziri, who is also a member of the United Methodist Church in Nigeria was assigned by the Church leadership to receive the Bishop at the Abuja Airport and accompanied him to the Immigration headquarters in Abuja, had a chat with the immigration officer that brought Bishop Nhiwatiwa to Abuja.
Mr. Mathias Madugu the Immigration Officer in the chat revealed that the Yola Immigration office had interrogated Bishop Eben K Nhiwatiwa and found nothing wrong with his documents but wanders why they will have to send him back to Abuja for further questioning.
” At the Immigration office in Yola since yesterday we have interrogated this Bishop and all his papers are intact I wander why they will have to send him back to the Immigration headquarters in Abuja for further questioning.
His visa was processed here in Abuja I think if there is anything wrong with his documents just a call from Yola to Abuja would have clarified the issue, well, I know something is wrong at the top, because I learnt that the other faction of the Church went to the Immigration headquarters in Abuja to file a complain against the Bishop and is likely they are the ones that paid for our flight tickets 260,000, 130,000 each, I was just seating relaxing and my boss said I will be going to Abuja with Bishop and here we are” he said.
Salisu Waziri who accompanied the immigration officer and the Bishop to the headquarters of the Nigerian immigration office in Abuja at about 8pm reported that there were no senior immigration officials to attend to the immigration officer from Yola and the Bishop as all offices were locked only few Immigration security officers were seen at their duty post.
Bishop Eben K Nhiwatiwa who was denied access to his drugs and luggage from Yola Immigration Office, was later checked into the Immigration headquarters guest house to wait for further directives from the Yola office or headquarters.
Former Bishop of the United Methodist Church in Nigeria Bishop John Wesley Yahanna who resigned from the Church to join a new denomination Global Methodist Church (GMC) is alleged to be responsible for the ordeal of the Zimbabwean UMC Bishop Nhiwatiwa to frustrate the effort of the Church from electing a new UMC Bishop in Nigeria to replace him.
Formal Bishop John Wesley Yohanna has also been accused of converting the properties of the United Methodist Church in Nigeria to his new denomination Global Methodist Church, a move that led to some many crisis in different branches of the Church across the country with many of the Churches closed by the Nigerian police and the Taraba state government where the headquarters of the United Methodist Church in Nigeria is located.
It is also learnt that a Zimbabwean National official has so far reached out to the Zimbabwean Embassy in Nigeria to begin diplomatic talks on the issue.