New Gay Clergy Dispute Erupts in Anglican Church of Nigeria

The Anglican Church of Nigeria, a member of the Anglican Communion, has announced that a self-confessed gay activist is no longer a member of the Communion.

|TOP|The statement released in Abuja and signed by the Church of Nigeria’s Director of Communication, the Rev. Canon Akintunde Popoola, said that Davis Mac-Iyalla had ceased to be a member of the Communion since 2003, following extensive searches which had failed to trace Mac-Iyalla to any particular congregation.

“He is not registered in any of our more than 10,000 local parishes as of the past two years. None of our more than 6,000 priests recognise him as an active member in any of their parishes,” the statement said.

Mac-Iyalla was the Director of Changing Attitude of Nigeria (CAN), a group that claims to be made up of gays and lesbians in the Anglican Communion in Nigeria, and was one of the leading campaigners against prejudice against homosexuals in the Church.

More recently, Mac-Iyalla criticised the campaign by the Primate of the Church of Nigeria, the Most Rev. Peter Akinola, for his opposition to the practice of homosexuality within the Church.

|AD|He also made the controversial statement that “Gays, lesbians and bisexual people are called by God to express their sexuality in loving, faithful and committed relationships”.

The Church has been fighting off the media portrayal of Mac-Iyalla as a being pushed out of the Anglican Church because of his sexual orientation with the claim that the gay activist fled with large sums of money including the salaries of workers.

The Anglican Church of Nigeria insists that, his homosexual orientation aside, Mac-Iyalla, a former staffer of the Diocese of Otukpo until 2003, must still come forward to police in Otukpo over the allegations.

The statement by the Church read: “The Church of Nigeria wishes to emphasise that she continues to minister to all her members regardless of the problems they have.

“Our priests are adequately trained to counsel and pray with all manner of persons who go to them for help,” the statement said.