By Chukwudi Nweje
Ohanaeze Ndigbo has said Archbishop Fortunatus Osigbo Nwachukwu’s appointment by Pope Francis as the Holy See Permanent Observer to the United Nations and Specialised Institutions in Geneva and at the World Trade Organisation (WTO) shows the vast linkages of the clergyman as Igbo.
In a statement, yesterday, National Publicity Secretary of Ohanaeze, Alex Ogbonnia, described the clergyman, who would also serve as the Holy See Representative at the International Organisation for Migration, as a remarkable cleric who discharged the numerous duties assigned to him most creditably. He said: “Ohanaeze Ndigbo has followed with immense admiration how Nwachukwu discharged his duties most creditably as the Apostolic Nuncio to Saint Lucia, Grenada, and the Bahamas; Apostolic Nuncio to Suriname; Apostolic Nuncio to Belize; Papal Nuncio to Trinidad and Tobago, among others.
“In all his previous appointments, Nwachukwu has proved himself a quintessential Igbo with umbilical linkages. We have known our son, Fortunatus, as a hard-working, unassuming, conscientious man with incredible apostolic audacity, purity of mind and ecclesiastical mien.”
Obiozor pointed out that Cardinal Francis Arinze is the first African to teach in the major seminary; the first Nigerian Cardinal to work in the Vatican Rome; one of the six cardinal-bishops in the entire world; an emeritus prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and Discipline of the Sacraments; the cardinal-bishop of Vellectri-Segni among others.