Augustine Obiora Akubueze, former president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Nigeria, has died at the age of 69.
Born in 1956, he was ordained a priest in 1987 and consecrated as the first Bishop of the Diocese of Uromi in 2006, taking the episcopal motto Ut Testimonium Perhibeam Veritati (“That I may bear witness to the Truth”). He oversaw the growth of the dynamic and youthful diocese and is credited with the strong position it finds itself in today, with 113 diocesan priests serving 45 parishes and 54 men in training for the priesthood.
In 2011, his hard work was recognised, and he was appointed Archbishop of Benin City, one of Nigeria’s oldest and most influential Catholic jurisdictions. Under his leadership, the number of priests grew from 104 to 173, while the number of parishes increased from 62 to 94. The number of women religious also almost doubled, from 73 to 135.
Archbishop Akubueze served as President of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Nigeria from 2020 to 2024. Nigeria has long been in the grip of violent religious conflict. In 2020, at the beginning of his tenure as president, Nigeria was classified by Open Doors as the 12th most dangerous country in the world in which to be a Christian. By 2024, it had risen to sixth due to a sharp increase in Islamist violence against Christian communities, particularly in the country’s Middle Belt.
Archbishop Akubueze’s death was announced on Thursday by the Catholic Secretariat of Nigeria in a statement shared on its official Facebook page.
The statement reads:
“In total surrender to God’s will and sure hope of the Resurrection, the Catholic Secretariat of Nigeria invites all the faithful and people of goodwill to unite in prayer for the eternal repose of the soul of Most Rev. Augustine Obiora Akubeze, Metropolitan Archbishop of Benin City and former President of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Nigeria.
May the Lord, in His infinite mercy, grant him everlasting rest. And may his soul, together with the souls of all the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen.”
