wfn.org | Roadside robbery delays Nigerian bishop's arrival at Lambeth

["Lambeth98" <storm@indigo.ie>]

ACNS LC064 - 30 July 1998

Roadside robbery delays Nigerian bishop's arrival at Lambeth 

By Allan Reeder
Lambeth Conference Communications

An encounter with roadside bandits robbed a Nigerian bishop of
the first week of the Lambeth Conference.

Bishop Vincent Muoghereh reached Canterbury on Saturday (25
July), one week after most other bishops arrived. The late
arrival came after the bishop and his wife were robbed at
gun-point in Nigeria, thieves escaping with his car, passport and
visa. 

In Canterbury at last, Bishop Muoghereh told how his car was run
off the road by a gang of robbers. The drama unfolded June 19
when the bishop was making the 400-kilometre return trip from
Nigeria's capital, Abuja, to his home diocese of Ughelli in the
central-south of Nigeria, after collecting his visa from the
British embassy.

The bishop's car was overtaken at high speed and edged off the
road into the bush. The four robbers "brought out guns and
ordered us to get out of the car," Bishop Muoghereh said.

The bishop, his wife, Blessing Muoghereh, and their driver were
ordered to lie on the ground. After threatening to back the car
over them, the gang drove off, taking cash as well as the
bishop's passport and new visa.

The bishop admits the robbery was "very frightening." He learnt
later that the same gang had earlier held up passengers on a bus
and had shot one woman.

While the car was later found abandoned, Bishop Muoghereh
discovered that it would take at least two weeks to replace his
visa. His flight to England had to be delayed.

Calls from Conference Manager David Long to British immigration
authorities helped arrange the new visa, but Bishop Muoghereh and
his wife still arrived one week late. The bishop said he was
"embarrassed to be the only one left at home."

The travel obstacles continued for the bishop and his wife when a
suitcase was off-loaded at Frankfurt by mistake.

While the bishop has missed the first week of the conference, the
impact of the theft of money has been somewhat eased. Bishop
Muoghereh, only recently consecrated as a bishop, had intended to
use the stolen money to purchase episcopal robes during his visit
to England. One of the Conference "Market-Place" stall-holders,
Henwoods from Folkestone, has offered to supply him with a new
cassock at no charge. 

For further information, contact:

   Lambeth Conference Communications
   Canterbury Business School
   University of Kent at Canterbury
   Telephone: 01227 827348/9
   Fax: 01227 828085
   Mobile: 0374 800212

   http://www.lambethconference.org