The Enugu state police command has locked up the Mount Street
Parish of Assemblies of God Church, Nigeria after two pastors and their
loyalists engaged in a free-for-all fight.
The two pastors and their supporters fought over who should take control of the parish.
Apparently there has been an ongoing crisis in the church for more
than three years as two persons, Professor Paul Emeka and Dr. Chidi
Okoroafor are each laying claims to the leadership of the church, a
position known as General Superintendent, a matter that is currently
before the Supreme Court, Vanguard reports.
The drama was said to have started on Sunday, July 19, when one of
the pastors, Rev. Nathaniel Udeze, came with letters of posting and
other court documents as part of preparations to be installed as the new
pastor at the parish.
According to him, he had been officially posted there by the
leadership of the church under Rev. Paul Emeka, adding that Rev. Amaechi
Agbo had been transferred to another parish since May 2015.
He was however resisted by Rev, Agbo and his supporters, who accused
him of being an intruder and vowed not to allow him take over.
The trouble degenerated when supporters of both pastors arrived and
started sharing different versions of Sunday school manual in
preparation for the main service.
Both pastors threw caution to the wind and reportedly started shoving
each other and their supporters followed suit, engaging in fisticuffs.
The police had to be called to restore order. On arrival, the
divisional police officer, Dennis Ayara tried to calm the warring
parties but all his efforts to bring the situation under control proved
futile.
The led to the eventual shutdown of the church premises as the police
cordoned off the place and put it under lock, while the leaders of the
two factions were asked to report to the station.
No comments:
Post a Comment