By Justine Dyikuk and Sylvester Jalo
The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Nigeria (CBCN) has elected new officers to pilot the affairs of the Conference at their first plenary holding at the Catholic Secretariat of Nigeria (CSN), Abuja.
This disclosure was made in a statement dated 24 February 2026 and signed by the Secretary General of the Catholic Secretariat of Nigeria (CSN), Very Rev. Fr. Michael Ayanleke Banjo.
Fr. Banjo gave the names of the principal officers as Most Rev. Matthew Man’oso Ndagoso, the Archbishop of Kaduna, President; Most Rev. Alfred Adewale Martins, the Archbishop of Lagos, Vice President; Most Rev. Peter Odetoyinbo, the Bishop of Abeokuta, Secretary and Most Rev. Peter Chukwu, the Bishop of Abakaliki, Assistant Secretary.
In part, the statement read, “There were other Bishops elected to oversee the various directorates, departments and units of the Catholic Secretariat and CBCN Agencies.”
It also disclosed that the “new officers shall be officially presented at the closing ceremony of the plenary on Wednesday, 25 February 2026.”
“There were other Bishops elected to oversee the various directorates, departments and units of the Catholic Secretariat and CBCN agencies”, Fr. Banjo added.
He disclosed that the new officers shall be officially presented at the closing ceremony of the Plenary on Wednesday 25 February, 2026.
Most Rev. Matthew Man’oso Ndagoso, President; Most Rev. Alfred Adewale Martins, Vice President; Most Rev. Peter Odetoyinbo, Secretary and Most Rev. Peter Chukwu, Assistant Secretary. Credit: Catholic-trends.com
Archbishop Ndagoso was born on 3 January 1960 in Lot, Northern Nigeria and ordained a priest for the Diocese of Yola on 4 October 1986 after completing his seminary formation from St. Augustine’s Major Seminary, Jos, Plateau State.
He attended the Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas (Angelicum), Rome, from 1990 to 1992, where he obtained a Licentiate in Ecumenical Theology and returned to Rome in the same institution from 1996 to 1998, earning a Doctorate (STD) in Ecumenical Theology.
He served as the education secretary for the Diocese of Yola, overseeing Catholic schools in the Diocese, and was the pioneer Rector of Good Shepherd Major Seminary, Kaduna, from 1999 to 2003.
He was appointed the Bishop of Maiduguri Diocese in 2003, serving during a period of increasing regional instability.
The 66-year-old prelate became Archbishop of Kaduna after his appointment by Pope Benedict XVI on 16 November 2007, succeeding the late Archbishop Peter Yariyok Jatau.
Archbishop Ndagoso is a vocal advocate for security and social justice in Nigeria who has frequently challenged the Nigerian government to address the root causes of banditry, kidnapping, and the farmer-herder conflicts that have plagued the Middle Belt.
He has criticised policies such as the abrupt removal of fuel subsidies, noting that they have compounded the suffering of ordinary Nigerians, indicating that many conflicts are driven by socio-economic failures rather than purely religious differences.
