Archbishop Peter Jacob Akinola is the Anglican Primate of Nigeria, Bishop of Abuja and Archbishop of Nigeria’s Province III. He is Chairman of the Council of Anglican Provinces in Africa, and President of the ecumenical Christian Association of Nigeria.

Peter Akinola was born in 1944 on Abeokuta, Nigeria. He is an ethnic Yoruba. Before entering the ministry, he was a carpenter.

Akinola is a graduate of Virginia Theological Seminary. He is a “low church” evangelical, and believes the Bible is the final authority for Christian living, not tradition. He is known for strongly opposing anything in the church that is contrary to Biblical teaching. He is the leader of 37 million Anglicans, the largest Anglican community in the world.

In 2003, Akinola led an internal Anglican revolt against the proposed consecration of two homosexual priests, Dr. Jeffrey John in the United States and Gene Robinson in Canada. He asserted that homosexuality is against Biblical teaching and that homosexuals should not be consecrated by the church. He threatened to withdraw from the Anglican Communion if they were consecrated.

Dr. John was not consecrated, but Robinson was. In response, Akinola led a successful effort to suspend the US and Canadian churches from the Anglican Culsultative Council meeting in 2005.

In August of that same year, the Church of England’s House of Bishops issued a positive statement on civil unions. Akinola protested the statement and called for the Church of England to be disciplined or suspended from the Anglican Communion, which is led by the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Church of England.

In September, he removed all references to the authority of the See of Canterbury from the Nigerian Anglican Church’s mission. Where the mission used to refer to “communion with the See of Canterbury,” now it says, “communion with all Anglican churches, Dioceses and Provinces that hold and maintain the ‘Historic Faith, Doctrine, Sacrament and Discipline of the one holy, Catholic and apostolic Church.’”

In November, 2005, Akinola and several other bishops sent a statement to the Archbishop of Canterbury accusing the Church of England of giving the “appearance of evil.” Three of the signatories, however, deny having signed the letter.

In February, 2006 Akinola made a speech which that could have been used as justification for revenge attacks on Muslims in the eastern city of Onitsha in Nigeria, a city which has witnessed several clashes in the past between its Christian and Muslim inhabitants. After cartoons depicting the prophet Muhammad were published in a Danish newspaper, Muslims worldwide responded with violence. In Nigeria, 43 Christians were murdered and 30 churches were burned, along with about 250 Christian-owned homes and businesses.

In a public address, Akinola said, “May we at this stage remind our Muslim brothers that they do not have a monopoly on violence in this nation.” Shortly afterward, anti-Muslim violence erupted in Onitsha. Eighty Muslims were killed and their bodies burned in the streets. Mosques were defaced, a Muslim district was burned and hundreds of Muslims left the city, fearing for their lives. Other leaders, including Rick Warren, have since defended Akinola's statements.

In February, 2006 Akinola voiced support for proposed anti-gay legislation in Nigeria, causing some to accuse him of homophobia. Akinola remains an outspoken international leader within the Anglican Church.