By HILARY AKALUGWU

Bishop Francis Okobo, the first Nsukka Catholic Bishop dies at the age of 89 in Enugu.

This is contained in a statement issued on Friday in Nsukka by Rev. Fr. Greg Nnamani, the Vicar General of Nsukka Catholic Diocese.

Nnamani said that the bishop emeritus died on Friday in an Enugu hospital after a brief illness.

He wrote, “It is with deep pain and sorrow, yet with a total submission to the will of the Almighty God and a firm hope in the resurrection of the dead that I announce the sad news of the passing into glory of our Bishop emeritus, Most Rev Francis Emmanuel Ogbonna Okobo.

”He died this morning, August 29 at the Niger Foundation Hospital. Further information over this sad event will be communicated to you later.

“May his soul rest in peace. Amen,” he prayed.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Okobo was the first Bishop of Nsukka Catholic Diocese which was carved out from Enugu Catholic Diocese.

He was born in Lejja Community in Nsukka Local Government Area of Enugu State on November 4, 1936.

Okobo was ordained a priest in 1966 and appointed Bishop of Nsukka Catholic Diocese in 1990, until his retirement as a bishop in 2013. (NAN)