CATHOLIC PRIEST MAKES HISTORY AS FIRST NIGERIAN CATHOLIC VICAR TO BE PROMOTED TO THE RANK OF ACP
By Maik Ortserga
Rev. Fr. John Aondongu Gbatsôrun has an unassuming façade which disguises his nature. He has an intimidating aura and personality, but leaves you with the humbleness you can see about him.
When you speak with him as if you want to probe into his mind, he further confuses you with his amiable laughter. Since this is usual of him, at least in the many years following our friendship that began in his own village and followed us to Mount Saint Michael’s Secondary School Aliade, it means it is not an artificial but a natural aspect of his life.
After being ordained a priest of the then Makurdi Diocese, Fr. Gbatsorun’s second great day came when he joined the Nigerian Police Force on June 1, 2009 as a Force Cadet, through the support of two eminent people, Bishop Athanasius Atule Usuh and very Revd Fr. Stephen Beba all of blessed memory.
As a young cadet, John, though not the kind of person to draw attention to himself did enough to blend with the rigorous basic training which consisted running long distances and assaulting courses that would assault him right back.
As a preacher of the Word, the voices that went up a couple of decibels during the parades never got him paranoid.
With the resilience and persistence of vision; that of the audacity of a determined will, John was deemed fit to be commissioned, sartorially adding to his cassock, another uniform which would mark a journey full of extraordinary circumstances and struggles that fate would throw on his path. Moving through the ranks, Fr.Gbatsorun has always demonstrated that the power bank of his star to keep shining is God Almighty.
The story of his elevation today is the story of an honest and unpretentious man, contributing towards the change we need and serving as a stimulus to a movement in a new direction of probity, accountability and transparency in the Nigerian police.
Those who have met Fr. John Gbatsorun would agree with me that he is patently and transparently Godly with impeachable morals and ethics as a way of life. He is never one to give cause for worry that, following his exit, “skeletons” may start falling out from his closets. This is because his life is so much an open book that no such closets could have existed.
As his new promotion thrusts upon his shoulders the responsibility of becoming the first Catholic priest ever to attain the rank of ACP in the Nigeria Police, may the humility of his approach to issues and the belief that what is done to support others would speak for itself, continue to navigate him towards the pinnacle of his career in his first calling as a priest in the Lord’s vine yard and in the Police.
May the NPF, in its great wisdom, continue to find him worthy of additional decorations in the days ahead.
Congratulation to my brother and friend of many years, Fr. John.
