The pioneer bishop of Enugu Anglican Diocese – the Rt. Rev. Gideon Nweke Otubelu, was born on 2nd October 1927 to Pa Jacob and Ma Rebecca Otubelu in Ukpo, now the headquarters of Dunukofia Local Government Area of Anambra State of Nigeria. He had a remarkable birth (breech delivery), as his legs came out first. In those days, this was an abomination that was punishable by death. However, his parents’ Christian inclination saved his life. He had his early education at St. Mary’s Church Primary School Ukpo from 1934 to 1937, before transferring to the bigger St. Peter’s Church Primary School Abagana, in a neighbouring town. He did his primary six in 1942, took the entrance examination and won the scholarship to study in the famous mission secondary school – Dennis Memorial Grammar School (DMGS) Onitsha.

His Principal then at DMGS was the Rev. Eric D. C. Clark and his tutors included the Late Rt. Rev. L. M. Uzodike. His contemporaries then were the Late Most Rev. Dr. Benjamin Nwankiti, Professor W. I. B. Onuigbo, Chief Eric Okam, among others. His secondary education was from 1943 to 1947, after which he passed the senior Cambridge School Certificate examination in flying colours – Grade 1.

He then proceeded to the University College Ibadan, where he read his Bachelor of Arts Degree combined in English Language, Religious Knowledge, and History. Bishop Otubelu was one of the foundation students who studied between 1948 and 1952. He was then employed by the Diocese on the Niger in August 1953 and sent to St. Paul’s College Awka to teach both ordinary students as well as Catechists. He was later transferred to St. Mark’s Teacher Training College (T.T.C.) Nibo-Nise as Senior African Graduate Tutor and later became Principal of the college. He later proceeded to the University of London for his postgraduate studies in Education.

On 13th August 1955, he got married to his beloved wife, Lady Lucy Chukwudiebele Otubelu (nee Anigbo), an educationist from Abagana. In 1957, after the birth of their first child, they traveled to Britain for further studies. He did his Postgraduate Divinity Course at Ridley Hall, Cambridge University in 1958, and was ordained a Deacon of the Anglican Church in Britain.

On their return to Nigeria, the bishop and his wife were posted to Trinity College Umuahia, a centre for the training of priests. In 1962, they were posted to St. Bartholomew’s Church Asata Enugu, and in 1963, to St. Christopher’s Church Onitsha. That same year, they returned to St. Paul’s College Awka, where he acted as the Principal until the Nigerian Civil War broke out and Awka fell in 1967. Prior to that, he had been made a Canon of the All Saint’s Cathedral, Onitsha. During the war (1967-1970), he worked with the World Council of Churches (W.C.C.) in the programme for feeding and ministering to refugees.

During the Civil War, on the feast of St. Peter the Apostle, on 29th June 1969, the Anglican Diocese of Enugu came into existence and the then Rev. Canon Gideon Nweke Otubelu was consecrated the first Bishop of the new Diocese, which covered about all of old Anambra State. The ceremony took place at St. George’s Cathedral Freetown, Sierra Leone, and was presided over by the Archbishop of West Africa and Bishop on the Niger, the Most Rev. C. J. Patterson, who was assisted by several other Bishops from England and West Africa. This necessitated the new bishop and his wife to make a very risky journey through a constantly bombarded airstrip by means of a military aircraft. It was a stressful time for their children as well as both their parents. Everyone wondered if they would return safely or not to the war-torn zone.

At the end of the war in January 1970, having inherited churches that have been totally ravaged by the war and without finances – as survivors were penniless, Rt. Rev. G. N. Otubelu had to build the Diocese from scratch. It was a difficult time as the effect of the war was visible everywhere. Enugu was a ghost city and churches were desecrated, looted, and destroyed, but he had a strong faith in God. The Diocese of Enugu was born in exile, but the bishop returned to seek out the scattered members and rebuild the ruins and destructions of the civil war. With the help of God, he was able to achieve this and raise the Diocese to an enviable position. Right from inception, evangelism has been on the list of priorities of the diocese and the Lord’s Great Commission was always kept in view.

During his tenure, the Diocese of Nsukka and the Diocese of Abakaliki were created out from Enugu Diocese. A total of 12 dioceses have so far been created out from the initial Diocese of Enugu, and all of them make up the current Ecclesiastical Province of Enugu (one of the 14 ecclesiastical provinces of the Church of Nigeria).

ln recognition of his dedicated service to humanity and to God as an educationist and theologian, he was honoured with the National Award of Officer of the Order of the Federal Republic (OFR) by the then President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces – Alhaji Shehu Shagari, on Saturday, 7th March 1981.

Bishop Otubelu also founded the Cathedral Church of the Good Shepherd Enugu, whose foundation was laid on Sunday, 25th April 1982 by the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Right Honourable Dr. Robert Alexander Kennedy Runcie. The Lady Chapel of the Cathedral that can sit about one thousand worshipers was dedicated almost 10 years later on Sunday, 2nd February 1992.

The first initiation and investiture into the Order of the Knighthood of the Good Shepherd (KGS) was performed by His Lordship, the Rt. Rev. Gideon Nweke Otubelu on Saturday, 15th June 1996, and the Order has continued to grow from strength to strength. He retired in 1997.