Bishop Bibi and Fr George Nkeze
The Bishop of Buea, Most Rev. Michael Miabesue Bibi, has formally accepted an apology from Rev. Fr George Jingwa Nkeze and announced plans to facilitate his return to active priestly ministry, potentially bringing one of the Diocese’s most divisive disputes to an end.
In a communiqué dated August 4, 2026, Bishop Bibi published a reply he had sent to Fr Nkeze three days earlier. The Bishop said he had accepted the priest’s apology and forgiven him for failing to respect directives issued for the governance of the Diocese.
Bishop Bibi also said that, through the appropriate diocesan procedures, he would facilitate Fr Nkeze’s application for a Letter of Suitability, “allowing you to continue in priestly ministry.”
The wording suggests that the path towards Fr Nkeze’s restoration has been opened, although the Letter of Suitability has not yet been formally issued.
The Bishop’s decision follows an apology written by Fr Nkeze on February 6, 2026, from Scottsdale, Arizona, in the United States.
In the letter, which Bishop Bibi made public on July 29 with Fr Nkeze’s permission, the priest admitted that he had failed to comply fully with the directives of his local ordinary.
Fr Nkeze acknowledged what he called “errors in judgment and action”, asked for the Bishop’s forgiveness and reaffirmed his commitment to his priestly vocation, the Catholic Church and the Diocese of Buea.
Bishop Bibi initially said he would study the apology before responding. His August 1 reply now confirms that he has accepted it and considers Fr Nkeze forgiven.
The Bishop nevertheless reminded Fr Nkeze that obedience remains central to his priestly responsibilities, urging him to remain steadfast in prayer and to take his vow of obedience seriously.
The conflict dates back to the leadership transition that followed the retirement of Bishop Emmanuel Bushu.
Pope Francis accepted Bishop Bushu’s resignation from the pastoral care of the Diocese of Buea on December 28, 2019. Bishop Bibi, then Auxiliary Bishop of Bamenda, subsequently administered the Diocese before being appointed Bishop of Buea in January 2021.
At the centre of the dispute was the Catholic University Institute of Buea, commonly known as CUIB.
Fr Nkeze had served as CUIB’s pioneer President and Pro-Chancellor and was closely associated with the institution’s expansion, academic partnerships and entrepreneurial education model. He had also been elected President of the International Federation of Catholic Universities for Africa and one of the federation’s global vice-presidents in 2018.
In May 2020, while serving as Apostolic Administrator, Bishop Bibi assigned Fr Nkeze to a sabbatical and appointed historian Prof. Victor Julius Ngoh to replace him in CUIB’s leadership.
The decision immediately triggered resistance from Fr Nkeze’s supporters and sections of the university’s governing structure.
The CUIB administration and its legal representative argued that Fr Nkeze had a contractual mandate that had not expired and that the university’s internal statutes had not been respected.
In a June 2020 letter, CUIB’s lawyer, Barrister Sobe Clive Ndikum, accused Bishop Bibi of acting beyond the powers of an Apostolic Administrator. He demanded that Fr Nkeze be reinstated and alleged that the Bishop had blocked university accounts and interfered improperly in the institution’s administration.
Fr Nkeze’s supporters maintained that CUIB had its own corporate statutes, Board of Trustees and contractual arrangements established under Bishop Bushu. They argued that those structures gave the university a degree of administrative autonomy and that Fr Nkeze’s removal required due process.
Bishop Bibi took the opposite position.
He maintained that CUIB was an institution belonging to the Diocese and was therefore subject to the authority of the Bishop, particularly regarding its property, finances, personnel and administration.
The Apostolic Nuncio to Cameroon at the time, Archbishop Julio Murat, subsequently affirmed that Bishop Bibi, as Apostolic Administrator, had jurisdiction over the Diocese and its institutions. The Nuncio also stated that he had the authority to appoint, transfer or remove personnel in accordance with canon law and instructions from the Holy See.
On July 1, 2020, Fr Nkeze publicly announced his departure from CUIB’s leadership.
In a farewell address, he said the Board of Trustees had accepted his request for a special dispensation permitting him to hand over his duties as President with effect from July 1 and proceed on the sabbatical assignment given to him by Bishop Bibi.
Some reports described the announcement as Fr Nkeze’s resignation. However, it was a resignation or handover from his university position, not a resignation from the Catholic priesthood.
Indeed, Fr Nkeze said at the time that he was bound by his priestly vows to comply with the decision of the Apostolic Administrator. He also said he was leaving the institution financially stable and debt-free and urged the new leadership to preserve its mission and identity.
But the apparent handover did not end the disagreement.
Bishop Bibi later maintained that Fr Nkeze had not completed a proper physical and financial handover of CUIB.
The Bishop accused the former administration of failing to surrender certain university property, financial documents and bank accounts. He also alleged that CUIB had been managed like a private estate and had not submitted financial reports in the same manner as other diocesan institutions.
Fr Nkeze rejected those accusations.
He insisted that the university’s finances had been professionally managed and that he had already handed over the institution before relocating to the United States. He pointed to CUIB’s growth, international partnerships, expansion to Douala and survival during the Anglophone Crisis as evidence that the university had been financially healthy under his leadership.
The disagreement subsequently moved into civil and canonical proceedings, while public statements, petitions and social-media campaigns deepened divisions among priests and lay Catholics.
As the confrontation continued, Fr Nkeze was suspended from exercising priestly ministry.
Public accounts do not provide a clear date on which the suspension formally began, but Catholic reporting in July 2026 described him as a suspended priest whose disciplinary situation resulted from the prolonged dispute and his failure to comply with episcopal directives.
Fr Nkeze remained in the United States, while Bishop Bibi reportedly demanded that he return to the Diocese, complete the handover process and regularise his canonical position.
The conflict was no longer simply about who should lead CUIB. It had become a dispute over obedience, episcopal authority, financial accountability, canonical procedure and the extent to which a diocesan institution could operate independently of the sitting Bishop.
The confrontation resurfaced publicly in early 2025 when Fr Nkeze released a statement titled “Breaking the Silence”.
He accused Bishop Bibi of threatening him with canonical sanctions while a challenge was before the relevant authorities of the Holy See.
Fr Nkeze argued that the Bishop had failed to respect canonical procedures and had issued a delayed demand for another handover of CUIB, despite his claim that a handover had already taken place in 2020.
He also accused Bishop Bibi of disregarding his contractual rights and acting outside the limits of his authority.
Bishop Bibi’s position remained that Fr Nkeze had not fully complied with the directives issued to him, particularly regarding the university handover and his obligations as a priest incardinated in the Diocese of Buea.
The CUIB conflict eventually became part of a broader struggle over Bishop Bibi’s leadership of the Diocese.
In February 2022, bishops of the Bamenda Ecclesiastical Province expressed support for Bishop Bibi and condemned what they described as disrespect for Church hierarchy and attempts to undermine his administration.
The disagreement also affected relations between Bishop Bibi and his predecessor, Bishop Bushu.
In January 2024, Bishop Bibi prohibited Bishop Bushu from publicly celebrating or concelebrating Mass in the Diocese without his permission, accusing the retired Bishop of interference and opposition to his administration. The restriction was later lifted following reconciliation between the two bishops.
The dispute therefore divided more than the two principal figures. It drew in university officials, clergy, bishops, lawyers, students, lay Catholics and supporters of the rival positions.
The tone changed substantially in 2026.
Fr Nkeze’s February apology abandoned the confrontational language of his earlier public statements. Rather than continuing to challenge the Bishop’s authority, he acknowledged his obligation to obey his local ordinary and asked for forgiveness.
Bishop Bibi’s decision to accept the apology now formally moves the dispute from confrontation towards reconciliation.
His promise to facilitate a Letter of Suitability is particularly significant because such a letter would enable Fr Nkeze to resume recognised priestly ministry, subject to the required diocesan process.
However, the August 4 communiqué does not reinstate Fr Nkeze as President of CUIB, announce a new pastoral appointment or state that every civil and canonical dispute connected to the university has been resolved.
For now, the reconciliation appears to settle the personal and disciplinary conflict between the Bishop and the priest. The practical details of Fr Nkeze’s future ministry—and whether he will serve in Cameroon, the United States or elsewhere—remain to be announced.
MMI News
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