Key points:
- Emmanuel, a longtime leader in the Southern Nigeria Conference, was the first bishop elected at the West Africa Central Conference.
- He will serve the Nigeria Episcopal Area, following the resignation of John Wesley Yohanna in July.
- In his post-election remarks, Emmanuel said that church unity is his top priority.
The Rev. Ande Ikimun Emmanuel has been elected as a bishop in The United Methodist Church’s West Africa Central Conference.
Delegates elected Emmanuel, 44, Dec. 7 on the first ballot at the central conference’s meeting at Best Western Premier Hotel in Accra. The gathering took place Dec. 5-8. He received 37 votes out of 59 valid ballots cast. He needed 36 votes to be elected.
Emmanuel was the first bishop elected at the meeting, following the resignation of former Nigeria Area Bishop John Wesley Yohanna in July.
Emmanuel had served as assistant to the previous bishop until a falling-out in 2021 over the future of The United Methodist Church in Nigeria. For several years, Emmanuel has led efforts for the episcopal area to remain part of the denomination.
“People of Nigeria, we cannot amend the past, but we can correct the future. I want to say that I take this as a challenge. I promise that I will justify the confidence you have in me,” he said in his post-election address.
Emmanuel was elected by the central conference’s 60 total delegates, an equal number of United Methodist clergy and laity from the central conference’s three episcopal areas: Liberia, Nigeria and Sierra Leone. Soon after the 2024 General Conference, the Côte d’Ivoire Conference, which had been part of the West Africa Central Conference, voted to leave The United Methodist Church and return to being an independent Methodist denomination.
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In the West Africa Central Conference, like the United States, a bishop is elected for life on his or her first election.
Emmanuel was one of the three endorsed candidates of the Nigeria Episcopal Area.
He was born into the Christian family of Emmanuel Ikimunbi, and his parents are United Methodists. His father was a lay preacher who started The United Methodist Church (Nukkai) in the family sitting room.
“Today this church has grown in membership to be one of the biggest UMC churches in the State of Taraba, Nigeria. This was the congregation that nurtured me to discern God’s call in my life to pastoral ministry,” Emmanuel said.
He is married to Lami Ande Emmanuel, and they have two sons, Goodness and Shalfolomi, and a daughter, Mercy. He holds a Master of Theological Studies degree from Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington, D.C., and an undergraduate degree from Reform Theological Seminary in Mkar, Benue State, Nigeria.
Emmanuel served the Southern Nigeria Conference for more than two decades and also worked with the United Methodist Board of Church and Society.
In The United Methodist Church, bishops are ordained elders who are called to “lead and oversee the spiritual and temporal affairs of The United Methodist Church.” Bishops, in consultation with district superintendents, are responsible for appointing clergy. They also preside at annual conferences, jurisdictional conferences and General Conference, the denomination’s top lawmaking assembly.
In his post-election remarks to UM News, Emmanuel said church unity is his top priority.
“I am calling for a time of unity, and I pledge that the No. 1 priority for me is how to unite the different factions that have been in The United Methodist Church. I want to send a message of peace, unity and forgiveness.”
Chikwanah is a UM News correspondent based in Harare, Zimbabwe.
News media contact: Julie Dwyer at (615) 742-5470 or newsdesk@umnews.org. To read more United Methodist news, subscribe to the free UM News Digests.
