![Rev. Fr. Anthony Odiong, a US-based Nigerian Louisiana Catholic priest, was arrested in Florida on Tuesday for possessing child pornography, according to law authorities. The suspect is reportedly accused of many other cases of sexual assault. The Waco, Texas, Police Department announced in a Facebook post on Tuesday that officers detained Father Anthony Odiong in Ave Maria, Florida, with assistance from the United States Marshals Service. Waco police announced in March that they had received "credible information" about a sexual assault allegedly committed by Odiong in Texas in 2012. “During the subsequent investigation, a case of possession of child pornography was uncovered,” the police said. The priest was apprehended in Florida by the Caribbean Regional Fugitive Task Force. The Waco Police Department said that he will be extradited to Texas. Odiong had previously served in the Archdiocese of New Orleans before being removed as priest in December of last year due to controversy over homilies in which he claimed, among other things, that the Catholic Church was being taken over by "the gays." At the time, the priest was also accused of abusive behaviour; a Louisiana lady claimed in U.S. bankruptcy court that Odiong had committed both financial and sexual abuse against her. Prior to joining the New Orleans Archdiocese, Odiong served in at least two Texas parishes. On Tuesday, Waco police stated that during their sexual assault investigation, "the presence of other survivors was revealed." “Multiple women have come forward to tell similar experiences as the sexual assault survivor who reported the initial allegation,” the police department said. “Survivors’ experiences ranged from sexual assault and indecent assault, more commonly recognised as groping, and financial abuse, with some survivors experiencing every element of Anthony Odiong’s manipulation.” The police said they “believe there may be more survivors, and we wish to speak with anyone who [has] had similar encounters” with the priest. The Archdiocese of New Orleans issued a brief news release on Tuesday noting Odiong's arrest in Florida. The archdiocese “encourages anyone with any information to contact law enforcement,” the release said.](https://chronicle.ng/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/ezgif-6-4730550ede-300x200.jpg "Odiong: US-based Nigerian Catholic priest convicted over sexual assault")
Hon. Kanmi Ajibola, the member representing Oriade State Constituency in the Osun State House of Assembly, has written to the leadership of the National Assembly, requesting that the death sentence be used as a punishment for corruption.
Ajibola, in a five-page letter to Senate President Godswill Akpabio and Speaker of the House of Representatives Tajudeen Abbas, copies of which were obtained in Osogbo on Friday, stated that the country’s level of corruption necessitates the inclusion of capital punishment in Nigeria’s anti-graft laws.
The former Chairman of the Nigerian Bar Association, Ilesa Branch, decried the massive resources the country has lost to corruption, claiming that if such funds had been properly used, Nigeria would not be grappling with an infrastructure deficit.
Citing Sections 4(1) and (3) of the Constitution, the lawyer said it was within the purview of the National Assembly to make laws that would help the country halt corrupt practices among its citizens.
He said that Nigeria’s anti-corruption laws and acts in their current forms are ineffective, necessitating the implementation of capital punishment.
The letter partly read, “As a human rights activist, I should not be thinking of capital punishment to curb or drastically minimise corruption in Nigeria, but for the fact that the acts of the few leaders that are corrupt are leading to the death of their innocent subjects, I think this is the only way and the hard way.
“It is an axiomatic fact that if this stealing spree continually persists unchecked, the country will ultimately end up in an untimely grave. To prevent the sudden and untimely death of Nigeria, the 1999 Constitution empowered the National Assembly with the responsibility to make laws for the peace, order, and good government of the federation.
“At this very moment, before corruption kills Nigeria, it is desirable that Nigeria move faster to kill corruption. The incumbent leadership of the National Assembly can be the Moses and Musa of the present Nigerian generation by removing the country from the death trap of corruption and its killing venom.
“Due to the non-availability of effective laws to checkmate corruption the way it should be properly checked, there is a loss of peace, order, good governance, and good government in the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
“That Nigeria may continue to live, there is a compelling need for the prevailing public corruption to be curbed and controlled by capital punishment in our laws.
“Within the thirty days of the receipt of this letter, I plead with the National Assembly to perform this public duty to save Nigeria by introducing the penalty clause of capital punishment into our anti-corruption laws and acts.”
![Rev. Fr. Anthony Odiong, a US-based Nigerian Louisiana Catholic priest, was arrested in Florida on Tuesday for possessing child pornography, according to law authorities. The suspect is reportedly accused of many other cases of sexual assault. The Waco, Texas, Police Department announced in a Facebook post on Tuesday that officers detained Father Anthony Odiong in Ave Maria, Florida, with assistance from the United States Marshals Service. Waco police announced in March that they had received "credible information" about a sexual assault allegedly committed by Odiong in Texas in 2012. “During the subsequent investigation, a case of possession of child pornography was uncovered,” the police said. The priest was apprehended in Florida by the Caribbean Regional Fugitive Task Force. The Waco Police Department said that he will be extradited to Texas. Odiong had previously served in the Archdiocese of New Orleans before being removed as priest in December of last year due to controversy over homilies in which he claimed, among other things, that the Catholic Church was being taken over by "the gays." At the time, the priest was also accused of abusive behaviour; a Louisiana lady claimed in U.S. bankruptcy court that Odiong had committed both financial and sexual abuse against her. Prior to joining the New Orleans Archdiocese, Odiong served in at least two Texas parishes. On Tuesday, Waco police stated that during their sexual assault investigation, "the presence of other survivors was revealed." “Multiple women have come forward to tell similar experiences as the sexual assault survivor who reported the initial allegation,” the police department said. “Survivors’ experiences ranged from sexual assault and indecent assault, more commonly recognised as groping, and financial abuse, with some survivors experiencing every element of Anthony Odiong’s manipulation.” The police said they “believe there may be more survivors, and we wish to speak with anyone who [has] had similar encounters” with the priest. The Archdiocese of New Orleans issued a brief news release on Tuesday noting Odiong's arrest in Florida. The archdiocese “encourages anyone with any information to contact law enforcement,” the release said.](https://chronicle.ng/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/ezgif-6-4730550ede-450x300.jpg "Odiong: US-based Nigerian Catholic priest convicted over sexual assault")
