How Power Tussle Tears Assemblies of God Church Apart - "You are not fighting for souls or for God but for your pockets." - Secretary General of CAN

THE leadership crisis rocking the Assemblies of God Church, Nigeria is far from being over as the faction of the church led by the General

The church had been embroiled in crisis since last year following the leadership tussle between Emeka and Okoroafor.

Available statistics showed that the Assemblies of God Church has a population of over 2.6 million members worshipping in over 14,300 churches spread in Nigeria with its headquarters in Enugu, Enugu State.  It has planted more than 50 missionaries in nine countries across the world with over 11,650 ministers.

However, the once peaceful members of one-fold family had been torn apart following a leadership tussle that is presently bedevilling the church. Crisis of factionalisation of the church had been lingering as two senior Reverend gentlemen, Professor Paul Emeka and Dr Chidi Okoroafor have been at loggerheads, each laying claim to be the overall leader of the church, qualified to bear the designation General Superintendent, GS.

How are the mighty falling, it is very sadden and anti-christ that a popular Pentecostal preacher Rev. Dr Chidi Okorafor of Assemblies of God Nigeria has slipped off from the truth. Dr. Chidi Okorafor is no more what he use to be, the preacher who was well known of his end-time messages including Quarter to God's time, Injury Time, should I still forgive him, Raw Material and many others is now becoming a raw material in the hand of the devil instead of the raw material for God’s Kingdom. This is really a sign of end time as he is not doing it alone; he is being motivated by Rtd Rev. Charles Osuke and their cliques.

The issue which resulted in litigation  is currently at the last bus stop – the Supreme Court, awaiting the final arbitration. Whilst the much-expected judgement is being awaited, members of the 27 Mount Street Parish in Enugu engaged in free-for-all recently. The shameful act still centered on the crisis over who takes control of the parish which is believed to be lucrative.

Control of the parish

The drama   started when Reverend Nathaniel Udeze stormed the Mount Street parish with letters of posting and other court documents empowering him to be installed as the new pastor of the parish that morning.

But he was stoutly resisted along with his team of loyalists by the   current Resident pastor of the parish, Reverend Amaechi Agbo who, along with his loyalists, accused Udeze of being an “intruder”. The disagreement led to a free for all when Udeze insisted on taking over since he had been officially posted there by the leadership of the church under Rev Paul Emeka.

He went on to inform the bewildered congregation that their resident minister, Agbo, had been transferred to another Parish since May 2015. Earlier, supporters of both warring pastors were found sharing different versions of the Sunday school manual during the school which angered the supporters of the divide until the two pastors began a shouting match that eventually led to the free for all.

The fracas attracted the attention of the police who raced to the place and the church was locked up. That was not the first time members of the congregation would engage in such a show of shame. Sometime last year, precisely December 3, 2014, hell was also let loose at the national headquarters of the church located in Enugu when the two warring factions engaged in a bloody clash that left no fewer than five persons seriously injured, while four cars parked at the premises were burnt beyond recognition during the free for all that ensued.

Vanguard Metro, VM, gathered that the clash followed the invasion of the church   headquarters by the Reverend Chidi Okoroafor-led faction in a bid to forcefully take over the national secretariat of the church which had been under the control of the embattled General Superintendent, Reverend Paul Emeka and his loyalists.

Violence broke out that fateful Wednesday morning, December 3, 2014, when members of the Okoroafor faction stormed the national secretariat in several buses and attempted to gain entry into the national secretariat but were prevented by   Reverend Emeka’s loyalists.

How we prevented bloodshed at the parish  — PPRO

ENUGU police command told VM surveillance has been mounted   within the vicinity of the parish until normalcy would be fully restored which is still under lock and key as at the time of this report.

Speaking to our reporter, the State Police Command’s image maker, Mr. Ebere Amaraizu, said: “Please let me correct one impression. We (Police) did not lock up any church. Ours is to ensure that there is no breakdown of law and order. What happened was that we intervened and averted what could have resulted to bloodshed.”

“If  not for our timely intervention that Sunday,” he went on, “it could have been a different story. When efforts were made to bring the two factions to amicable settlement, which was not forthcoming, we gave our advice, so they locked it up and the keys are with them not with us (Police). But for now, we are monitoring the place to ensure that no unpleasant thing occurred there”.

PFN gave them opportunity to come and defend their lies. Of course, they never thought they would be called to defend their actions. That day became the beginning of their downfall as they did a bad work of defending themselves. The PFN were very carefully, cautious and pamperous yet at a point they just had to let out the cat. The PFN president had to tell them that they were rather"too hasty" in the way they handled the matter concerning their GS. In his words, " you people did not treat this matter as if it involved your General Superintendent. Hastily, you suspended him and hastily you published it on the dailies. That's not fare! " Right there, Charlie Osueke stood up and said, "I am hearing some of these things for the first time, give us two weeks to resolve things and report back to you." The PFN are still waiting for the two weeks to elapse and it wouldn't because Osueke has since vowed that peace shall return only at his grave yard. One of the PFN leaders later lamented, "these men are evil". A week after that meeting, they produced a minute that totally misrepresented the whole discuss on that day. It was so embarrassing that when one of the leaders of PFN that was present in that meeting saw it and after reading it, he frowned and said, "this is a lie, are these men born again?" He asked.
The failure of PFN peace talk marked an end of an era in the crisis. From then on, we entered into the era of lawlessness and violence. The police were available instruments for violations of the court order especially the monitoring unit at Abuja. At one time, Alaje was said to have wept in his office when the plot to detain and arraign the GS, Rev Prof Paul Emeka failed. He was said to have shouted, "oh, my God! Do you mean the #25millions paid to police in Abuja has all gone?" Yes! It was gone. About‪#‎27millions‬ was paid to the appeal court judges to crush our court orders. Every week they wrote a new petition against us to the monitoring unit and unfortunately for the Igbo woman in charge, she in total violation to the court orders took joy in humiliating and intimidating the GS, Rev Prof Paul Emeka, just because of ‪#‎25million‬. It was due to the high rate of petition against the GS, Rev Prof Paul Emeka by these heartless so called brethren that suddenly, the inspector General of Police out of nowhere decided to invite CAN to assist him to know what the real problem was with AG. They were to resolve the problem if they can, make recommendations if necessary and proffer solutions. Obviously, God is watching and gradually God was carefully and tenderly trying to show these desperados the futility of their plot to take power by force. The D day came on 18th of December and the meeting held at The Apostolic Church headquarter Lagos.

Chidi Okoroafor and his co coup plotters were 20 persons in number while the authentic General Superintendent, Rev Prof Paul Emeka and his people were 26 persons in number. The both parties made their presentations, each for 50 minutes. Afterwards, questions were thrown at each sides and eloquently, Rev Prof Paul Emeka gave appropriate answers for each questions. On the other hand, Chidi Okoroafor and his cohorts got stock each time a question was thrown at them. Glaringly, the truth could no longer be hidden. One after the other, CAN members began to speak up. For instance, the Archbishop of the Anglican Communion in Lagos asked them,"what do you people gain that all of you conspired to destroy one man, will your destroying him take you to heaven?" He asked them. The secretary General of CAN said, "All I see here is greediness for money, power and position. You are not fighting for souls or for God but for your pockets." Foursquare gospel church GS said to them, "we wanted to settle this thing in PFN but you refused and said that you will invite Assemblies of God Africa and USA to settle it.

What happened till now, you are back to CAN? The Gen OVERSEER, All Christians church, Rev Williams said, " your problem is transitional, the transistor has refused to transit. In a race, the man with the Baton must hand over the baton and turn back but here the man with the Baton has refused to let go the baton." This was a clear picture of what Osueke has done against AG Nigeria. At a point during the discussion, Charlie Osueke stood up to insult the honourable assistant General Superintendent, Rev Dr. Raphael Itoto, Papa Ayo said to him, "sit down! Sit down! Sit down! Are you not a father? Please sit down!" That was a good question, but will he hear? I decided to call him Charlieboy when it became obvious that he does not want to be recognised as our father. He preferred going back to senseless youthful exuberance. Can you imagine a father saying, "we must fight to finish, instead of peace to return back to AG, let the church close". Is these the words of a father? Again, Papa Ayo asked him, Are you not a father?
The CAN position was unanimous, Rev Prof Paul Emeka did nothing worthy of punishment but for peace to reign, they pleaded with him to step down with Chidi Okoroafor for one tenure. The Almighty Chidi Okoroafor instantly became furious and couldn't hid his anger. Now, the hunter is being hunted and it is not funny again. Why do the heathen rage and the people imagine vain things? In quick but angry response he told CAN to give them till 27th Jan, in order to allow them for wider consultations. As usual, CAN obliged them and Rev Prof Paul Emeka in his usual relaxed comportment agreed with their date as a date for final answers to CAN. Consequently, the meeting came to an end but not before the CAN PRESIDENT, Papa Ayo pleaded with all to desist from using radio, tv or granting interviews to any media house. We were asked to stop posting anything about the crisis on Internet or Facebook until the day of final response on 27th Jan. Anyway, you can bear witness that I and my colleagues with Prof Paul Emeka abided by those instructions because we were desirous for peace. However, the rebellious and lawless Chidi Okoroafor as usual dispersed that instructions and went on radios, tv and dailies to abuse CAN and the court judgement. Luckily for him, he is lawless and above the laws both sacred and secular laws.

The 27th of Jan,.has come and gone. The story is getting worse and worse. The police are still harassing us through the woman in charge of monitoring unit at Abuja. In fact, last week I received a letter inviting me to force headquarter because of a petition written against me by Chidi Okoroafor accusing me of obstructing the cutlass prayer convocation of December 3rd. We are aware also that the woman has been offered millions of naria to detain Jeff Ramsey, myself, the GS and some others and to arraign us in court the next day. Friends, they can crush our bodies but they can't crush our spirits. Unfortunately, we have written several petitions against the evil activities of these men but she has never acted on them because we do not have millions to give her. Madam, chop! Na your turn but don't forget that evil that men do live after them. On the 4th of February we shall be in Abuja to meet with her greed and lawlessness. Surely, we shall return back triumphantly because God is on our side and truth shall triumph!

Interestingly, the Almighty Chidi Okoroafor did not honour his appointment with CAN, he preferred to run away while his lying machine, Ejim and his anointed thwart, Amaowoh stood in for him. CAN dignitaries were highly displeased. These great men reiterated on the fact that they left their busy schedules just to ensure that peace returned to AG while the man who wants to be AG number one man felt less concerned. Papa Ayo was visibly angry at the pride and arrogance of Chidi Okoroafor. Now, others have begun to see what Rev Prof Paul Emeka endured for the past four years. One of the CAN officials told them that a Being without a head is a monster. With apologies to all, he told them that they behave like a monster. Finally, somebody is ready to speak the truth to these horrible men without conscience. CAN decided afterwards that their final decision shall not be announced until Chidi Okoroafor is present physically. They decided they would fix another meeting which if he does not come they would publish their decisions on dailies, Radio and television. Papa Ayo told Ejim and his boy Amaowoh, you people want to lead but you hate peace but Prof Paul Emeka and his people are men of peace. The meeting ended with Ejim and Amaowoh bowing their faces in shame. Now, you can see why the heathen rage. Their plans are shattering and their dreams are turning into nightmare.

The CAC angle:

ANOTHER angle has been added to the crisis as the Nigerian Corporate Affairs Commission, CAC, had in a letter dated June 22, 2015 conveyed the withdrawal of the name of Reverend Paul Emeka from the Certificate of Incorporation earlier issued pending the final determination of the case currently pending before the Supreme Court.