The battle for the soul of Assemblies of God Church Nigeria got
messier at the weekend with the ex-communication of the embattled
former General Superintendent, Rev. Paul Emeka.
He was also dismissed from ministry with his pastoral certificate withdrawn.
These were part of the far-reaching resolutions reached by over 7,000
delegates of the church at the General Council--the highest
decision-making organ of the church--meeting in Evangel Camp, Okpoko in
Ebonyi State at the weekend.
The delegates agreed that Rev. Emeka had dragged the name of the
church in the mud by instituting legal suits and using law enforcement
agents to witch hunt some church leaders.
When the church Legal Adv-iser, Barrister P.C. Abuka, subjected the
proposal to excommunicate Emeka to a voice vote, delegates replied
with a resounding yes.
Abuka explained that the proposal was necessary to institute
litigations against Emeka, who he alleged has been making moves in
colla-boration with some members to appropriate church po-ssessions.
"You have armed us with this resolution and now we can move against
Emeka to protect the church and her property across the nation," Abuka
stated.
The announcement of the dismissal of Emeka and other alleged
collaborators believed to be working at cross-purposes with the
church's leadership, was received with a rousing applause by the
delegates.
Delegates also danced in excitement when Council unanimously elected
Rev. Chidi Okoroafor as the new General Superintendent alongside three
other prin-cipal officials and 15 zonal representatives to form the
new Executive Council of the church for the next four years.
The former General Super-intendent of the church, Rev. Charles Osueke,
canvassed support for the new council members, saying the crisis in
the church was precipitated by attempts by a few forces to hijack
constitutional pro-visions.
Osueke, who led the church for 27 years, said it was either the church
conformed to their destructive demands or face up to confront them.
"If we want automatic peace, we would hand over the church to them.
Once we do that, the church and its vision is gone. But we cannot
allow that because this church does not belong to anyone," he
stressed.
Speaking with reporters after the meeting, Okoroafor said the measures
were necessary to weed out those who he described as dissidents bent
on frustrating progress in the church.
He confirmed that legal actions will be taken against Emeka and others
seeking to take over the church through suits.
Justifying the reasons for this, Okoroafor said: "We cannot
spiritualise legal issues. You can't just be praying when somebody is
taking you to courts.
"We would no long keep quiet and allow our property taken over or our
accounts fraudulently run by them."
He pointed out that the church has identified constitutional loopholes
that Emeka and others capitalised on, stating such sections will be
massively overhauled when an emergency council meeting holds before
the end of second quarter of 2015.
--Vanguard
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