COUNSELS representing Assembles of God Church, has asked the police to enforce a Supreme Court judgment which sacked Reverend Paul Emeka as the General Superintendent of the church.
Speaking at a press conference in Lagos, Monday Ubani who is part of the legal team and a member of the church said that since the Supreme Court put an end to the leadership crisis rocking the church, the police instead of helping to execute the judgment have chosen to lock up the church headquarters.
Ubani further added that it is worrisome that Reverend Emeka who was sacked by the court is still parading himself as the General Superintendent of the church while still occupying the church properties.
“I implore the Inspector General of Police Mr. Ibrahim Idris to carry out the judgment of the Supreme Court by letting the Church repossess the Secretariat of AG Nigeria in Enugu and vacate all other properties scattered all over Nigeria which he sat upon based upon the erroneous judgment of the State High Court Enugu which the Court of Appeal and Supreme Court have all nullified.
“We do not want a breakdown of law and order in the church as a foremost Pentecostal Church in Nigeria they cannot be seen to employ unorthodox method in resolving what rightfully belongs to them.”
“More intriguing is the foot dragging and prevarication of the Nigerian Police to let us take back our secretariat from Rev Paul Emeka. We would have taken possessions of all our properties in his custody all this while but for the intervention of the Nigerian Police authorities who advised the church to allow the Supreme Court to deliver its judgment.
“Now that this judgment has been delivered dismissing the appeal of Rev Paul Emeka, what appellate options are the Police waiting for? We refuse to think that the Nigerian Police is protecting a dismissed church member and leader while leaving the church itself unprotected.
“We do not understand why the police locked up our secretariat leaving the church to squat in residential houses, hotels and schools. We do not know how long the police will keep this going. We do not know the rationale for police’s ambivalence in the face of the dismissal of Paul Emeka’s suit by the Supreme Court.”
Ubani also noted that Rev Paul Emeka has been deceiving his few followers that the Supreme Court judgment declared him as the substantive General Superintendent of AG Nigeria and that his suspension and dismissal by the General council of AG Nigeria was a nullity and unconstitutional.
He further emphasized that by the recent Supreme Court Judgment concerning the church, Reverend Emeka ceased to be a member of Assemblies of God in Nigeria.
“For the record, Paul Emeka is no longer a member of the Assemblies of God Nigeria. He is no longer a pastor in the church. He is no longer a leader of the church. He is no longer a trustee of the Church, having been duly removed and the current certificate from the Corporate Affairs Commission reflecting this.”