BRIEF HISTORICAL ROOTS OF

THE DIOCESE OF MAIDUGURI,

CHURCH OF NIGERIA (ANGLICAN
COMMUNION) FROM 1842 T0 2020
By Very Revd Dr Ifechukwu. U. Ibeme
Website: http://www.scribd.com/ifeogo
http://priscaquila.6te.net
The Chapel of Grace Web Blog: http://thechapelofgrace.wordpress.com

The Church of Nigeria has experienced eventful years of her history within the
Anglican Communion worldwide.

_Abolition of slavery was brought into effect in the dominions of British

Empire by the British Abolition Act of 1833 which led to settlement of freed
slaves in Sierra Leone. At the request of Aku (Yoruba) freed slaves in Sierra
Leone for sending of Christian missions to their native land, the foundation
of Church of Nigeria Anglican Communion began with the Yoruba Mission
led by Henry Townsend who came to Nigeria under the auspices of the
Church Missionary Society (CMS). A reconnaissance expedition first brought
them to Badagry where, with the Methodist missionaries, they held the first
Church service on Nigeria soil on 19th December 1842, and to Abeokuta on
4th January 1843 where they were received by Sodeke of Egba land.
Townsend returned to Badagry in 1845 but later settle in Abeokuta with his
Yoruba Mission team (including Crowther) in July 1846 to begin Church
planting missions. Later, in 1857, Crowther was sent to lead the Niger
Missions up the Niger River._

_The Diocese of the Niger Territories covering what was later called Nigeria
was created when Samuel Ajayi Crowther, the leader of Niger Missions, was
consecrated its Bishop in 1864. Crowther held his first Diocesan Synod at
Onitsha in 1866 and held ordinations there. In 1861 Oba Dosumu had ceded
the island of Lagos to Britain to become annexed to British Dominion which
came to be referred to as the “Liverpool of West Africa”! Lagos began to

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 develop rapidly with heavy legitimate commerce devoid of the slave trade –
the slave barracoons and stations replaced with Churches and Schools,
wharves and warehouses, government buildings and quarters, city streets
and dwellings. In 1867, Rev Townsend’s mission headquarters was expelled
from Abeokuta to settle in Lagos where he retired in 1876 and later died in
1886, while Bishop Crowther died 1891. By this time the Missions they led
and left behind were having difficulties. in 1893 Crowther was succeeded by
Bishop Joseph Sidney Hill when he was consecrated as Bishop of the Diocese
of Niger Territories renamed Diocese of Western Equatorial Africa. Hill’s
Episcopacy functioned fully over both Townsend’s Yoruba Missions
(formerly under Diocese of Sierra Leone) and Crowther’s Niger Missions to
consolidate their work with the help of Assistant Bishops. Instead of
Crowther’s Niger Mission Headquarters in faraway Onitsha or Townsend’s
founding Headquarters in nearby Abeokuta, Rt Rev J. S. Hill based his new
Headquarters in Lagos which had become ceded as a British Dominion
annexe and was also the seat of the Colonial Government. Bishop J. S. Hill
was succeeded by Bishop Herbert Tugwell in 1894, who ventured to take
the mission to Hausaland as far as Zaria and Kano in April 1900._

_Missions to the Soudan Hausaland was planned from Oyo and Lokoja.
Tugwell went on his Hausa Sudan mission with a team that included
Richardson, Miller, Bako, Dudley-Ryder and others. The Emirs banned them
from Kano and Zaria, so they settled at Gierku where Dudley-Ryder died and
was buried close to where Mr. Gowans the daring Canadian missionary had
been buried earlier. After planting a Church and Dispenser there, they
finally went back to Lokoja. When the Fulani Emirs of Sokoto, Kano and
Zaria who ruled the Hausaland Sudan refused to stop slave raids and slave
trade, they were overrun and deposed by Lord Lugard to establish the
colonial rule in 1903, for the enforcement of both the peace and the
abolition. In 1906, 17th July, the Diocese of Western Equatorial West Africa
formally adopted its first Diocesan Constitution._
(For more details see: WALKER F. Deaville, _The Romance of the Black
River_ (2nd Ed). London: CMS, 1931. Published by Canterbury Project at this
link: http://anglicanhistory.org/africa/ng/walker1930/index.html ).

The story of The Church of Nigeria becoming an autonomous Province can be

traced to 1906 when a conference of Bishops in Communion with the Anglican

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Church held in Lagos. The Rt. Rev. E.H. Elwin, then Bishop of Sierra Leone,
presided at the meeting. The Rt. Rev. Herbert Tugwell (Bishop of Diocese of
Western Equatorial Africa – the new name given to the old Diocese of the Niger
Territories in 1893 but adopted its constitution on 17 th July 1906) was there with
four of his Assistant Bishops: James Johnson, Charles Phillips, Isaac Oluwole and
N. Temple Hamlyn. It was there that the need for a Province of West Africa was
first highlighted.

A second conference for the purpose came up again in Lagos in 1935. But it was
the conference of 30th October – 3rd November 1944, also in Lagos, that made a
clear headway on this matter, leading first to the inauguration of the Church of
the Province of West Africa in Freetown, Sierra Leone. This was done on the 17th
of April, 1951 by the then Archbishop of Canterbury, The Most Rev'd. Geoffrey
Fisher. The Bishop of Lagos, The Rt. Rev'd. L. G. Vining was elected first
Archbishop of the new Province comprising these five Dioceses: Diocese of Sierra
Leone (1852), Diocese of Accra (1909), Diocese of Lagos (1919), Diocese On the
Niger (1919) and Diocese of Gambia (1935).

_The Yoruba Mission was the first missionary expedition in Nigeria which
was begun by Townsend with Crowther working under him, but Crowther
was later sent to begin the Niger Mission as the second missionary
expedition in Nigeria. In 1919, the old Diocese of Western Equatorial Africa
under Bishop Herbert Tugwell was divided into Diocese of Lagos (covering
territories evangelized though the older Yoruba Mission based in Abeokuta
since 1846) and Diocese On the Niger (covering territories evangelized
though the newer Niger Mission based in Onitsha since 1857). Tugwell
relinquished the Diocese of Lagos to Bishop Frank Melville Jones who was
consecrated to take oversight of the Diocese as its first Bishop on the Feast
of Saint Luke the Evangelist 1919; but Tugwell continued direct oversight of
the Diocese on the Niger with the help of Assistant Bishop Adolphus. W.
Howells till Tugwell’s resignation in 1920. Tugwell returned to England in
1921 for Parish Ministry and died fifteen years later in 1936. On the Feast of
Conversion of Saint Paul 1922, Bishop Bertram Lasbrey was consecrated as
Tugwell’s successor on the Niger._

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 (See: WALKER F. Deaville, _The Romance of the Black River_ (2nd
Impression). London: CMS, 1931. Chap XVII “Mission Activities” pp 211-212
found on Canterbury Project website at this link:
http://anglicanhistory.org/africa/ng/walker1930/17.html ).

Between 1951 and 1977, the two Dioceses in Nigeria (Lagos and on the Niger)
gave birth to fourteen new ones: Niger Delta, Ibadan, and Ondo/Benin (all created
in 1952); Northern Nigeria, now Diocese of Kaduna (1954); Owerri (1959); Benin
(1962); Ekiti (1966); Enugu (1969) (Ilesha (1974); Egba/Egbado and Ijebu (1976);
Asaba (1977).

These sixteen dioceses in Nigeria soon began to sense a growing need for
contextualization of their Christian witness. The opportunity eventually came at
an Episcopal Synod at Ado-Ekiti on the 31st of January, 1974. There they resolved
to set in motion the process of becoming an autonomous Province within the
Anglican Communion. This was closely followed by the Standing Committee of the
Church of Province of West Africa, which gave it their blessing and referred it to
the Synod, which held on the Campus of the University of Lagos on the 14th of

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August 1975 and passed the resolution that the machinery for the actualization of
this desire be set in motion.

Known then as the Association of Anglican Dioceses in Nigeria (AADN), a

Constitution Drafting Committee was set up under the Chairmanship of Sir Louis
Mbanefo (of blessed memory). The Anglican Consultative Council meeting in
Trinidad (23rd March – 2nd April 1976) considered the draft to be “in order” and
adopted it as “Resolution 34 on the proposed Province of Nigeria.”

Finally, at a meeting of the Standing Committee of the Province of West Africa

held in Benin City on the 13th of August 1977, the resolution was adopted for the
Church of the Province of Nigeria to be inaugurated in the month of February
1979.

With the election of The Rt. Rev'd Timothy Omotayo Olufosoye, DD, the Bishop of
Ibadan to take the lead, he was presented at the Cathedral Church of Christ,
Marina as the Archbishop, Primate and Metropolitan of the Province, which was
designated as “The Church of Nigeria, Anglican Communion”. The Church of
Nigeria was inaugurated on St. Matthias Day, 24th February, 1979.

_Missions to Northern Nigeria supervised from Lagos by Bishop Frank

Melville Jones did not become effective until the Assistant Bishop Alfred
Wilfred Smith was sent to Ilorin with a Northern Nigeria Board set up in
1925. When Assistant Bishop Norman Sherwood Jones took over from
Smith n 1944, he moved his headquarters to Zaria leading to creation of
Archdeaconry of Northern Nigeria based in Zaria (1945). This was further
divided into Archdeaconries of Kano and Jos in 1950. Assistant Bishop John
E. L. Mort succeeded Jones in 1952 and he later became the first Bishop of
the new Diocese Northern Nigeria relinquished from Lagos Diocese In 1954
with Cathedral in Kaduna. The Diocese of Northern Nigeria was further
divided into Dioceses of Kaduna, Kano and Jos in 1979. Kano Diocese later
gave birth further to two Missionary Dioceses of Maiduguri and Bauchi in
1990. Diocese of Maiduguri soon gave birth to Missionary Diocese of
Damaturu in 1996._

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The beginning of the Anglican Church in Maiduguri was in 1936, when Sunday
services began to be held by traders, railway workers, Post and
Telecommunications staff and others from the South including expatriates.
Majority of this congregation were Anglicans and the site was in the outskirts of
the town where the Holy Trinity School and Church were built initially. As the
population of Maiduguri grew, more members joined: Anglicans, Baptists,
Catholics, Sudan United Mission (SUM) now Church of Christ In Nations COCIN),
Church of the Brethren Mission (CBM) now Ekklesiyar Yan’uwa a Nigeria (EYN),
and Sudan Interior Mission (SIM) now Evangelical Church Winning All (ECWA).

It is worthy to note that Anglican missionaries worked hand-in-hand with the S. U.

M. to establish the Maiduguri Missionary Bookshop (now Albishir Bookshop) in
1945. In fact, the first man to take charge of the Bookshop was an Anglican
Missionary by the name Mr. R. Smith, while Reverend Keller of the S. U. M. now
COCIN, who visited Maiduguri to give sacerdotal ministrations also ministered to
Anglicans.

In 1946, separate services had begun to be held by the Baptists and the Catholics.
In 1947, the first completed Church building in Maiduguri was dedicated by the
Anglican Bishop of Northern Nigeria, Bishop Sherwood Jones on 26 th July 1947. He
named the Church, Holy Trinity Anglican Church, Maiduguri. This is attested to by
the Borno Province documents in the archives of Borno State government. The
Holy Trinity Anglican Church, Maiduguri was then located on the present site of
the Musa Usman State Secretariat Complex. What was then the outskirts of the
town left for foreigners is now the city centre and government secretariat.

Since then, it has given birth to Maiduguri and Damaturu Dioceses. St John’s
Anglican Church, Maiduguri was built in 1954. Today by God’s grace through
Bishop Emmanuel. Kana. Mani’s leadership, there are seven Anglican Churches in
the city of Maiduguri and several indigenous churches in the rural areas including
the Sahara as well as the Chad.

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The Missionary Diocese of Maiduguri was created on 28 th February, 1990 and was
inaugurated on 28th September, 1990. This covers the area of the old Borno State
now Borno and Yobe states of Nigeria. Rt. Rev. E. K. Mani, a former military
chaplain who hails from Zuru in then Sokoto State (now Zamfara State) was
consecrated the first Anglican Bishop of Maiduguri. Through his dynamic
leadership, the Anglican Church in Borno and Yobe States grew in size and
strength.

In 1996, all Anglican Churches in Yobe State were carved out of Maiduguri
Diocese to constitute Damaturu Diocese with Bishop Dan Yisa (now Bishop of
Minna Diocese and Archbishop of Lokoja Province) as their first Bishop. After
giving birth to Damaturu Diocese, the Diocese of Maiduguri comprising Anglican
Churches in Borrno State continued to grow with Churches springing up as far as
Tchad Republique where French speaking Churches were planted.

In 2002, the Jos Ecclesiastical Province was created and Bishop Mani who was the
Bishop of Maiduguri also became the first Archbishop of the Province of Jos
(Anglican Communion). The outbreak of insurgency that broke out on 28 th
February 2009, which led to much of Northern and Eastern Borno State becoming
turned into war theatre and IDP camps that destroyed about 35 Anglican Parish
Churches and mission villages in the Sahara Desert country as well as Gwoza and
Mandara highland country of Borno State.

In February 2017 after 27 years of ministry, the Late Archbishop Emeritus

Emmanuel Kana Mani GPJ, departed this life to be with the Lord. Later in
September 2017 our new erudite and revivalist Bishop, The Right Reverend Dr
Emmanuel Morris JP, a UN Ambassador of Peace and a former military Chaplain,
was consecrated to take up the mantle as the new Diocesan. His arrival has seen
the beginning of reawakening, replanting, revival and rebuilding as it was in the
time of Ezra and Nehemiah in the Bible after Israel’s Babylonian exile.

September 2020 marked the 30th Anniversary of the arrival of a Bishop to seat on
the See of Maiduguri Diocese under the Jos Province of the Church Nigeria
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(Anglican Communion). 2020 also marked the 84 th Anniversary of Christianity in
Maiduguri since 1936 and 73rd Anniversary of the first completed Church building
episcopally dedicated in Maiduguri in 1947. This mother Church located at where
the Musa Usman State Secretariat is now situated was called Holy Trinity Anglican
Church. Needless to add that by the year 2020, the Anglican Church in Nigeria
marked her 178th Anniversary since 1842.

Last Updated October 20, 2023

By Very Revd Dr I. U. Ibeme
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