On 10 July, the seminarians in a house of formation in the Ahiara diocese woke as usual; but their morning prayer was anything but routine. The atmosphere was like a graveyard. The deadline given by Pope Francis for all the priests of the diocese to pledge obedience to him and apologise for their rejection of the appointment of Peter Okpalaeke as their bishop had passed the previous day.

The 40 or so seminarians had one prayer intention that morning: that the situation in the diocese be resolved quickly, so that they could finally be ordained, five years after some of them had completed their formation.