![Rev. Fr. Anthony Odiong, a US-based Nigerian Louisiana Catholic priest, was arrested in Florida on Tuesday for possessing child pornography, according to law authorities. The suspect is reportedly accused of many other cases of sexual assault. The Waco, Texas, Police Department announced in a Facebook post on Tuesday that officers detained Father Anthony Odiong in Ave Maria, Florida, with assistance from the United States Marshals Service. Waco police announced in March that they had received "credible information" about a sexual assault allegedly committed by Odiong in Texas in 2012. “During the subsequent investigation, a case of possession of child pornography was uncovered,” the police said. The priest was apprehended in Florida by the Caribbean Regional Fugitive Task Force. The Waco Police Department said that he will be extradited to Texas. Odiong had previously served in the Archdiocese of New Orleans before being removed as priest in December of last year due to controversy over homilies in which he claimed, among other things, that the Catholic Church was being taken over by "the gays." At the time, the priest was also accused of abusive behaviour; a Louisiana lady claimed in U.S. bankruptcy court that Odiong had committed both financial and sexual abuse against her. Prior to joining the New Orleans Archdiocese, Odiong served in at least two Texas parishes. On Tuesday, Waco police stated that during their sexual assault investigation, "the presence of other survivors was revealed." “Multiple women have come forward to tell similar experiences as the sexual assault survivor who reported the initial allegation,” the police department said. “Survivors’ experiences ranged from sexual assault and indecent assault, more commonly recognised as groping, and financial abuse, with some survivors experiencing every element of Anthony Odiong’s manipulation.” The police said they “believe there may be more survivors, and we wish to speak with anyone who [has] had similar encounters” with the priest. The Archdiocese of New Orleans issued a brief news release on Tuesday noting Odiong's arrest in Florida. The archdiocese “encourages anyone with any information to contact law enforcement,” the release said.](https://chronicle.ng/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/ezgif-6-4730550ede-300x200.jpg "Odiong: US-based Nigerian Catholic priest convicted over sexual assault")
Nigerians have vehemently criticised President Bola Tinubu and the Niger State governor, Mohammed Umar Bago, over a picture of the latter kneeling to greet the president.
In a photo that has since gone viral, Bago can be seen kneeling to greet Tinubu during his visit to the Nigerian president on Thursday.
The picture, which has stirred the ire of Nigerians, has many describing it as disrespectful and evidence of god-fatherism in Nigerian politics.
Commenting on the picture, Edena Moris stated that it is embarrassing to see the chief security officer of a state kneeling before Tinubu.
“A chief executive bowing to another chief executive in a democracy in 2024 is beyond embarrassing. It’s disgusting to say the least,” Moris stated.
Kris Eleven, in his reaction, argues that, “It’s such a disgusting sight. This isn’t respect or reverence anymore. There’s got to be something else to this foolery with APC. There’s got to be something else to this daily mockery of governance and publicity. It’s got to be really diabolical.”
For K. Baba, he noted that the attitude of both parties is “unacceptable.” He argued that if the president is revered in such a manner, no one will be able to question his decisions and policies.
“This is just too unacceptable. Nigeria isn’t ready for any meaningful growth at all. If, at this time and age, Nigerian politicians still bow down to another so-called elected individual, then who’ll question his wrong policies against the people?”
Calling it an evident display of “political hegemony, Olu Ogunnowo stated that “sadly, the reality of political hegemony pervades all levels of governance and leadership. With patronising servitude and total submission, there’s progress; without it, it’s political oblivion.”
In his reaction, Ikhide R. Ikheloa argued that with such a display of subserviency, the Nigerian democracy has been bastardised.
“Nigerian-style democracy has served to compromise and bastardise every institution that is crucial to the health of Nigeria, but what makes me despair the most is what it has done to the civil space inhabited by Nigeria’s thinkers and writers.
“Our thinkers and writers, with their western gaze, hold western leaders more accountable than they do our own, and once-hallowed institutions are caricatures of their past. The are enabling the bigotry of low expectations. There is perhaps no hope,” Ikheloa states.
While Dr. Aloy Chife states, “To think that we all come from this prehistoric place. I’m embarrassed beyond belief, and I feel the most terrible grief,” others berated Tinubu for smiling gleefully in the picture.
Calling Tinubu “Jagaban,” Adekunle LP states that the president is “full of pride. Someone else would have asked the man to quickly stand up before the camera captured it. But no. Baba was rather showing off to the camera.”
![Rev. Fr. Anthony Odiong, a US-based Nigerian Louisiana Catholic priest, was arrested in Florida on Tuesday for possessing child pornography, according to law authorities. The suspect is reportedly accused of many other cases of sexual assault. The Waco, Texas, Police Department announced in a Facebook post on Tuesday that officers detained Father Anthony Odiong in Ave Maria, Florida, with assistance from the United States Marshals Service. Waco police announced in March that they had received "credible information" about a sexual assault allegedly committed by Odiong in Texas in 2012. “During the subsequent investigation, a case of possession of child pornography was uncovered,” the police said. The priest was apprehended in Florida by the Caribbean Regional Fugitive Task Force. The Waco Police Department said that he will be extradited to Texas. Odiong had previously served in the Archdiocese of New Orleans before being removed as priest in December of last year due to controversy over homilies in which he claimed, among other things, that the Catholic Church was being taken over by "the gays." At the time, the priest was also accused of abusive behaviour; a Louisiana lady claimed in U.S. bankruptcy court that Odiong had committed both financial and sexual abuse against her. Prior to joining the New Orleans Archdiocese, Odiong served in at least two Texas parishes. On Tuesday, Waco police stated that during their sexual assault investigation, "the presence of other survivors was revealed." “Multiple women have come forward to tell similar experiences as the sexual assault survivor who reported the initial allegation,” the police department said. “Survivors’ experiences ranged from sexual assault and indecent assault, more commonly recognised as groping, and financial abuse, with some survivors experiencing every element of Anthony Odiong’s manipulation.” The police said they “believe there may be more survivors, and we wish to speak with anyone who [has] had similar encounters” with the priest. The Archdiocese of New Orleans issued a brief news release on Tuesday noting Odiong's arrest in Florida. The archdiocese “encourages anyone with any information to contact law enforcement,” the release said.](https://chronicle.ng/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/ezgif-6-4730550ede-450x300.jpg "Odiong: US-based Nigerian Catholic priest convicted over sexual assault")
