LAGOS, Nigeria (RNS/ENI) A retired Army lieutenant colonel-turned-priest has been elected the new primate of the Anglican Church of Nigeria, one of the largest provinces in the Anglican Communion.

The Rev. Nicholas Orogbodo Okoh, 57, will lead Nigeria’s 20 million Anglicans following next year’s retirement of Archbishop Peter Akinola, who has been one of the most outspoken critics of the Episcopal Church’s acceptance of homosexuality.

Okoh was elected on Tuesday (Sept. 15) by the country’s Anglican bishops, and is expected to follow Akinola’s strong opposition to the ordination of women and homosexuals.

“I am grateful to God and to the Church of Nigeria, particularly our laymen, clergy and House of Bishops, for thinking that I can do it,” Okoh said in his acceptance speech. “It is a lot of confidence reposed in me, and I pray to God not to allow me to fail.”

The incoming primate is chairman of the theological resource group of the Global Anglican Future Conference, or GAFCON, which describes itself as a group of “confessing Anglicans whose goal is to reform, heal and revitalize the Anglican Communion, and expand its mission to the world”.

GAFCON, which draws primarily from “Global South” churches and conservative allies in North America, has emerged as the central opposition to moves to allow gay bishops and the blessing of same-sex unions in the U.S. and Canada.

Akinola called the 2003 election of openly gay Bishop V. Gene Robinson of New Hampshire a “satanic attack on God’s church” and has described gay-affirming churches as a “cancerous lump” on the body of Christ.

Okoh is currently the bishop of Asaba and archbishop of Bendel Province. Okoh was ordained a priest in 1979, became a bishop in 2001 and was appointed as archbishop in 2005.

Akinola praised Okoh’s election but denied rumors that he was trying to install a hand-picked successor. “The church of God does not operate in that manner,” Akinola said. “It functions according to directives from God and that is why it is like this today.”