Assemblies of God crisis

LAST week in Enugu and its environs, the news broke that the Supreme Court had ratified Reverend Paul Emeka’s suspension by the General Executive of the church, a judgment which favoured Reverend (Dr) Chidi Okoroafor, as the General Superintendent of the Christian community.

However, contrary to expectations, indications emerged that those loyal to Reverend Paul Emeka insisted that there was no such judgment which removed Emeka as the General Superintendent of the church, while supporters of Reverend Chidi Okoroafor, who celebrated the judgment, went ahead to address the media with report that the Court installed Okoroafor as the authentic spiritual leader of the church.

In his reaction to the judgment, Emeka said the court had not said he was no longer the General Superintendent of the Assemblies of God Nigeria, nor had there been any ruling installing Okoroafor as the General Superintendent.

“What we are fighting for is not for me to regain my position. What we are fighting for is the part of the church which they took by force, that is, the church property which was taken by force. They went further to encroach on my position,” Emeka stated.

Giving further clarification on the judgment by the court, Emeka said he went to the apex court to challenge the decision of the Court of Appeal which nullified the ruling of the Enugu High Court, which, in 2014, restored him to office as the general superintendent of the church.

“However, instead of going into the merit of the matter, the Supreme Court had, last Friday, struck it out on the ground that the service of the court process on Chidi was not done in accordance with the order of the High Court; that the procedure adopted in filing the case was not the appropriate procedure.

“When a case is struck out, they are telling you to go back and re-file, put it in a proper and normal procedure. We are going back to the High Court. The case was not dismissed. The issue of the removal of Emeka has not been decided. The court has not heard it.”

He stated that it was wrong for the faction opposed to his leadership to take laws into their hands by “attempting to seize property and issue claims of legitimacy.”

He said the judgment of the apex Court amounted to partial culmination of the three-year-old crisis, stressing that at least, it agreed that he had the right to appeal his “kangaroo suspension, as well as the unjust gathering, where the action was taken without giving him fair hearing.”

The General Executive Committee of the Assemblies of God Nigeria, led by Reverend Okoroafor, had on Monday, declared its readiness to recover all properties being occupied by members loyal to  Emeka.

Addressing newsmen at the Evangel Camp, Okpoto, the General Superintendent, Okoroafor, said the Church would not fold its hands and watch illegal occupants mess up its structures.

Also present at the briefing were all the 19 members of the general executive committee. Among them were the assistant general superintendent, Reverend Pastor Ejikeme Ejim; general secretary, Reverend (Dr) Godwin Akpan Amaowoh; general treasurer, Reverend Vincent Alaje, and the zonal heads of the church across the country.

Okoroafor called on the pastors and the members who stood with Emeka while the matter was on, to return with genuine repentance before it was too late.

His statement read in part: “Blessed be the God of the founding fathers of the Assemblies of God Nigeria. He is a prayer answering God; He is a great God. He has demonstrated that He is the owner of the church. He has shown himself great and wonderful.

“In the first place, the Assemblies of God Nigeria, by biblical standards and our Constitution, should not have gone to court to settle an internal matter. However, ethics demand that when one takes you to court, you must necessarily answer to show your regard for this quintessential arm of government – the judiciary. This is exactly what happened.

“When our former leader, Reverend Paul Emeka, unfortunately took the church to court instead of resorting to our internal administrative set up capable of resolving any issues, the church responded accordingly. As our legal men were still on preliminary objections, his lordship, the judge of the court of first instance (Enugu High Court), delivered a surprise judgment granting him his prayers. We appealed the judgment to the Enugu division of the Federal Court of Appeal. We resorted to intensive prayers to the God of our founding fathers, who used the Court of Appeal in a unanimous judgment to set aside the judgment of the High Court and upheld the decision of the General Committee of the Church of 6th March, 2014.

“Reverend Emeka was not satisfied with the judgment of the Court of Appeal and he went to the apex court (Supreme Court) of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. The same God of our past victory did it again and on Friday, February 24, 2017, the Supreme Court sitting in Abuja dismissed his appeal and upheld the judgment of the Appeal Court which had upheld the decision of the church which dismissed her former General Superintendent, Rev. Paul Emeka.

“We are aware that a few of our pastors and members unfortunately decided to pitch their tent with an individual instead of the church. Some even claimed to remain neutral awaiting the Supreme Court judgment.”

A visit to the national secretariat of the church showed that the premises was under lock and tight security, even as some members told TribuneChurch that all was calm, despite the last court judgment.

“The leadership of the Assemblies of God Nigeria is one and still under Reverend Paul Emeka.  We are very open. It is not about victors or losers. It’s about the Assemblies of God Nigeria. Our church activities are still going on here,” a member, who spoke on the condition of anonymity stated.

However, for a church that boasts of more than 3 million in over 16,000 churches nationwide, according to information obtained from the church’s website, the question on the lips of many within and outside Enugu metropolis, where the headquarters of the church is located is: when will the crisis in the Assemblies of God come to an end? Who blinks first: Okoroafor or Emeka?