Pope Francis has appointed Msgr. Anthony Ovayero Ewherido as Bishop of the diocese of Warri, Delta State.
He is currently the rector of Saints Peter and Paul, Seminary, Bodija, Ibadan. Oyo State.
The declaration was announced on Wednesday by the Archbishop of the Archdiocese of Benin and Administrator of the Catholic Diocese of Warri, Archbishop Augustine Akubeze, at a ceremony at the Warri Cathedral being currently attended by priests and lay faithful.
With his elevation, the Bishop-elect, who hails from Ewu-Urhobo Kingdom in Ughelli South Local Government Area of Delta State, becomes the second indigenous bishop of the Diocese of Warri after the retirement of Bishop John Okeoghene Afareha.
Bishop Ewherido is an elder brother to the late Senator Pius Akpor Ewherido, who represented Delta Central at the National Assembly and died on June 30, 2013.
Msgr Ewherido takes over from Archbishop Augustine Akubueze (of Benin City), who served as Apostolic Administrator of Warri Diocese following the retirement of Bishop John Okeoghene Afareha in April 2022.
Curriculum vitae
Msgr. Anthony Ovayero Ewherido was born on 8 October 1960 in Eghwu, in the Diocese of Warri.
After attending the minor seminary in Effurun, he completed his philosophical and theological studies at the Saints Peter and Paul Major Seminary, Ibadan. He later earned his Doctorate in Biblical Studies at St. John’s University and Fordham University in New York. Subsequently, he also obtained a diploma from the Pontificio Ateneo Regina Apostolorum in Rome.
He was ordained a priest on 18 October 1986, incardinated in the Diocese of Warri.
He has held the following offices: assistant parish priest of St. Jude’s in Effurun (1986 – 1987); rector of the Holy Martyr’s of Uganda Minor Seminary in Effurun (1988 – 1992); parish priest of the Mother of the Redeemer Catholic Church in Effurun (1992 – 1994); residential priest with pastoral duties at Our Lady of Victory Catholic Church in Floral Park (1994 – 2005) and at St. Frances Cabrini Catholic Church in Coram, New York (1995 – 2006); chaplain at Stony Brook University Medical Center in Stony Brook, NY (1995 – 2006); parish priest of the Sacred Heart in Abraka, Nigeria (2006 – 2007); since 2007, Formator and Lecturer at the Saints Peter and Paul Major Seminary, Ibadan; vice-rector of the major seminary of Saints Peter and Paul, Ibadan (2013 – 2019); Lecturer at the Dominican Institute in Samonda, Ibadan (2013 – 2021); since 2019, Rector of Saints Peter and Paul Seminary, Bodija
