Methodist Church, in the Oshodi area of Lagos.
The church premises
The Punch reports that members of the church rejected their pastor and
chased him away for allegedly impregnating his housemaid who is also a
member of his church.
According to report, the pastor, Barkuma Andrew, was stopped from
leading the church seven months ago when the housemaid, Grace, had
complications after aborting the pregnancy. The pastor lives with his
wife, children, wife's cousin, Favour, and Grace in a three-bedroom
flat inside the church premises.
It was reported that the members had pleaded with the Central
Conference of the church in Taraba State to help look into the alleged
incident. However, when the district did not do anything about it, the
congregation sought the service of another pastor three weeks ago. The
congregation got to church at about 10am yesterday for Sunday service
only to see that Andrew and some "unknown" people had commenced the
service.
This sprouted the anger of the members of the church as they chased
pastor Andrew and his folks out of the church. Men from the Makinde
police division, including the DPO, were said to have intervened after
the incident was reported at the station. A member of the church and a
former secretary to Andrew, Moses Sherima, said that the pastor sent
his wife to her village when he impregnated Grace. He said:
"My room is opposite pastor's apartment and I was his secretary. When
he started dating that girl (Grace), I called his wife's cousin,
Favour, on the matter. She said Grace used to tell her whenever the
pastor had sex with her. At a point, I had to move upstairs when I
could no longer bear it. The day that abortion happened, I was
sleeping inside my room when I heard Grace screaming. I rushed there
and saw blood coming out from her private parts. When the wife came
back from one of her numerous journeys, he told her to send Favour
away."
Another church member, John Komboroh, said the church was embarrassed
by Andrew's conduct, adding that they were tired of his leadership. He
said:
"The petition of adultery against the pastor had been sent to the
bishop at the Central Conference. He came here, but did not do
anything about it. That was why we wrote to the main body, the
Southern Conference to give us another pastor. His (Andrew's) action
is an embarrassment to us. We don't want him again."
The new pastor of the church, Reverend James Sunday, said:
"We were about to start our service this morning when we met the old
pastor and some unknown people already holding the service. I calmed
down my people to avoid chaos."
Another resident and a female member, who identified herself only as
Blessing, said the pastor had once made sexual advances to her.
"My husband is not always at home. The pastor would call me in the
night and asked if I had slept. One day he entered my room and gave me
a soft slap on my back. I had only the wrapper on me. I was surprised
and told my neighbours."
When contacted on the telephone around 1pm on Sunday, Andrew said he
was in a meeting and promised to get back to The Punch on the
incident. He told The Punch Metro that he was still at the meeting
when he was called back around 5pm.
Meanwhile, a South African pastor, Pastor Peniel, is popularly known
for a number of strange acts. He had fed his congregation live snake.
He had turned human hair into food for the consumption of the church
members.
He was arrested and charged with animal cruelty after feeding his
congregants snake but he later released on bail and he said the South
African police do not know who they are fighting.
Irate members of the EFF brigade had reportedly set the church ablaze
about two weeks ago, vowing to feed Mnguni snakes and rodents, exactly
as he had done to members of his ETDM church.
-Naij.com
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