Professor Paul Emeka |
Dr Chidi Okoroafor, |
The shameless leadership tussle in the Assemblies of God Church is getting out of hand. Reports suggest that there would have been another bloodbath recently but for the timely intervention of the police.
Vanguard reports that factionalisation of the church has resulted in crisis which has been brewing in the church as two senior Reverends, Professor Paul Emeka and Dr Chidi Okoroafor, have been at loggerheads, each laying claim to be the overall leader of the church, qualified to bear the designation General Superintendent, GS.
It was also gathered that the case has been taken to the court and is presently in the Supreme Court, awaiting the final arbitration but while awaiting the judgement, members of the 27 Mount Street Parish, Enugu engaged in free-for-all centering on the crisis over who takes control of the parish which is believed to be lucrative.
Reverend Nathaniel Udeze had reportedly stormed the Mount Street parish with letters of posting and other court documents empowering him to be installed as the new pastor of the parish that morning, but he was vehemently resisted along with his team of loyalists by the current Resident pastor of the parish, Reverend Amaechi Agbo who, along with his loyalists, accused Udeze of being an “intruder”.
This did not go down well with the visiting pastor, whose men allegedly swung into swift action as Udeze insisted on taking over since he had been officially posted there by the leadership of the church under Rev Paul Emeka.
It took the timely intervention of the police who raced to the place, to avert further crisis and the church was locked up.
This was not the first time members of the congregation would engage in such a show of shame It has already happened around March this year and also last year, hell was also let loose at the national headquarters of the church located in Enugu when the two warring factions engaged in a bloody clash that left no fewer than five persons seriously injured, while four cars parked at the premises were burnt beyond recognition during the free for all that ensued.
On how the party averted bloodshed during the fracas, the state police command’s image maker, Mr Ebere Amaraizu, said: “please let me correct one impression. We (Police) did not lock up any church. Ours is to ensure that there is no breakdown of law and order. What happened was that we intervened and averted what could have resulted to bloodshed.
“If not for our timely intervention that Sunday, it could have been a different story. When efforts were made to bring the two factions to amicable settlement, which was not forthcoming, we gave our advice, so they locked it up and the keys are with them not with us (Police). But for now, we are monitoring the place to ensure that no unpleasant thing occurred there.”
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