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Tag: Assemblies of God Church

  • Assemblies of God Church re-elects Okoroafor as GS

    The General Council of the Assemblies of God Church Nigeria has re-elected Rev. Dr. Chidi Okoroafor as its General Superintendent (GS) for another term of four years following the expiration of his first tenure.

    The cleric got the nod to retain his position at the ongoing 36th General Council Meeting of the church, holding at its Evangel Camp located at KM 48 Enugu/Abakaliki Expressway, Okpoto/Ntezi in Ebonyi State.

    Okoroafor polled a total of 5,990 votes to clinch victory while the first and second runners-up in the election, Rev. Ejikeme Ejim, and Rev. Gabriel Michael polled a total of 467 and 49 votes respectively. Five other clerics polled different vote figures.

    Aside the position of General Superintendent, other officers of the church, such as the position of the Assistant General Superintendent, General Secretary, General Treasurer, among others were also elected.

    According to the electoral committee (Tellers Committee) chaired by Hon. Justice Onyiri Frank of the Rivers State Judiciary, a total of 10,145 delegates were to vote in the elections.

    In the case of the General Superintendent, the Tellers Committee disclosed that the total votes cast were 6,782 while 4,521 votes were required in that poll to determine the winner.

    Okoroafor was first elected by the General Council in 2014 and had, according to the members of the church, led the church meritoriously; hence, prompting his re-election to retain his position.

    The Nation gathered that there was neither formal declaration of interest by those whose names appeared on the ballot papers nor purchase of forms. They were written by the delegates who felt they could occupy the same post.

    In his speech, Rev. Okoroafor thanked the delegates for expressing the confidence they have for his leadership which they expressed through the ballot; pledging to do more for the growth of the church.

  • Abia returns mission schools to owners

    Abia State government has returned East Street Primary School and Clifford Road Primary School, both in Aba, to the original owners-the Assemblies of God Church. The church had, in the past, pleaded with the government to return the schools to it.

    Governor Okezie Ikpeazu made the announcement during this year’s Men’s Day celebration of the Assemblies of God Church, 222 Clifford Road, Aba.

    He directed the Commissioner for Education, Prof. Ikechi Mgbeoji to liaise with the church authorities to ensure that the handover process is completed by October.

    In their address read by the Secretary of the Men’s Ministry, Deacon David J. Okai, the church passionately pleaded with Governor Ikpeazu to facilitate the return of the schools to their church, a process they said began during the immediate past administration, but was stalled due to the leadership crisis in the church then, which has been settled.

    The letter reads: “Your Excellency, Dr Okezie Ikpeazu Sir, please, on behalf of the entire church, we are appealing with you to approve the recovery of our primary schools; East Street and Clifford Road Primary schools which were approved during the tenure of former Governor of the state, T. A. Orji. But because of internal misunderstanding we had then, it was withheld. Now that it has been resolved, we plead that you use your good offices and give them back to us. This church will never forget you for helping us out. We thank you in anticipation for doing it for us, Your Excellency. Divinity and humanity will never forget you in Jesus name, Amen.”

    Responding after Ikpeazu announced the pledge to return the schools, the Assistant District Superintendent of the Church, Rev Don Njoku, thanked him for the gesture and assured him that the church will continue to support and pray for his government.

    Earlier in his address, the President of the Men’s Ministry of the Church, Deacon Kalu Egbe, praised the leadership and development strides of the governor and assured him of their support in his determined efforts to positively change the narrative of Aba and Abia State.

    Governor Ikpeazu, who was received at the Church by Rev (Dr) Ogboso Ejindu, Assistant District Superintendent and the executive of the men’s ministry was accompanied by top government officials, including the Commissioner for Agriculture, Hon. Uzor Azubuike, Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Chief Umeh Kalu (SAN), Commissioner for Information, Chief John Okiyi Kalu, Commissioner for Petroleum, Mr. Chizuru Kanu and Chairman of Aba South Local Government Area, Chief Emmanuel Emereuwa.

  • Assemblies of God Church extends olive branch

    Assemblies of God Church extends olive branch

    The Leadership of the Assemblies of God Church of Nigeria has extended a fresh olive branch to members who are still associating with the embattled former General Superintendent, Rev. Paul Emeka.

    The church said the fresh call became necessary following a discovery that they were under a deceptive cloak.

    A statement yesterday and by the General Secretary, Rev Godwin Amaowoh, said pastors and members still identifying with Emeka have a new window of opportunity to retrace their steps.

    The statement reads: “Once more, the leadership of the Church, under Rev Chidi Okoroafor, is appealing to innocent ministers and members who were deceived to return to the Church as the crisis is over.

    “Emeka is no longer a Trustee of Assemblies of God Nigeria. He has lost at the Supreme Court, and is no longer in control of the National Secretariat.

    “Most of the notable people following him had since realised that the game for Emeka is over. He is quietly withdrawing most of his cases in court because he knows it won’t take him anywhere.

    “Severally the leadership of the Church has extended a generous olive branch, and those that came realised that the leadership is genuine. One wonders why some members are still following the man who keeps shifting the goal post.

    “Therefore, following enquiries from some members on whether the Church was still ready to receive them, we wish to reiterate our earlier statement that we are ready to receive them back to the fold

    “Some appear to be under a spell, but our prayer is that they shall all soon be liberated. For emphasis, Emeka remains a suspended member of the Church (until he repent, feels remorse) a decision already affirmed by the apex court. We, therefore, urge our members to be so guided and toe the path of light.”

  • Gunmen kill Policeman, civilian in Anambra

    Gunmen kill Policeman, civilian in Anambra

    Some people suspected to be gunmen on Sunday, shot dead a policeman and a civilian near Assemblies of God Church, Oguta Road Onitsha, Anambra.

    An eyewitness said that the gunmen had stopped near the Church, adding that on sighting some policemen at the church, they opened fire on them.

    The source also said the attackers made away with the rifle of the slain policeman.

    “When the firing became too hot, the policemen abandoned their patrol vehicle and ran away for safety.

    “The gunmen moved to their patrol van and took a gun belonging to the policeman they killed,” he said.

    The eye witness said he could not identify the number of armed men involved.

    Another eyewitness said, “Gunmen on Okada (motorcycle) shot a policeman and collected his rifle.

    They also shot dead an Okada man while escaping and the passenger he was carrying was injured.

    The policeman was the one armed among his colleagues; they were providing security while church service was going on at Assemblies of God Church, Oguta road Onitsha.

    Reacting to the incident, Mr Garba Umar Commissioner of Police in Anambra confirmed the incident to journalists.

    Umar said it was not an attack on the church, adding that the gunmen took away a rifle belonging to the slain cop.

    “My men were on patrol near the church when they were attacked by some gunmen. ‘’It was not an attack on the church in the real sense of it, “he said.

    Unknown gunmen on Aug. 6 attacked worshipers at St. Philips Catholic Church, Ozubulu, Ekwusigo council in Anambra, killing no fewer than 13 persons and injured 27.

    A Federal Government delegation,led by Sen. Chris Ngige had on Aug. 12 visited Anambra to condole the people and government of the state as well as the Catholic Diocese of Nnewi over the incident.

  • Assemblies of God Church seeks enforcement of Supreme Court verdict

    Leaders of Assemblies of God Church have asked the police to enforce a Supreme Court judgment which sacked Reverend Paul Emeka as the General Superintendent.

    Their counsel Mr Monday Ubani accused the police of double standards over a matter already settled by apex court.

    Ubani told reporters that instead of helping to execute the judgment, the police locked up the church headquarters in Enugu.

    He said it was worrisome that Reverend Emeka, despite being sacked by the Supreme court, was allegedly still parading himself as the General Superintendent and occupying the church properties.

    Ubani said except the police acted fairly and in accordance with the court order, it would be difficult to guarantee peace among church members.

    “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 has 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,” he said.

    Ubani also alleged that Rev Emeka had 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 church’s General Council was a nullity and unconstitutional.

    He further emphasised that by the recent Supreme Court judgment concerning the church, Revd 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,” Ubani said.

  • Assemblies of God Church disowns 2000 pensioner pastors

    Assemblies of God Church disowns 2000 pensioner pastors

    • Says no pension scheme for pastors of the church
    The Assemblies of God Church, Nigeria has described as mischievous, media reports linking some of its leaders to alleged missing pension fund belonging to retired ministers of the Church.
    In a press statement issued in Enugu, the Church said the publication was rather a clever but criminal design by some elements to divert attention from some atrocities they committed while they held sway in the Church.
    The reaction followed reports that the Inspector General of Police invited the Church’s General Superintendent, Rev Dr Chidi Okoroafor, Rev Vincent Alaje and Tony Ewelike, over a petition by one Mr C. N. Idris, wherein the church leaders were allegedly accused by 2000 pastors of embezzling the pension fund.
    However, the Church’s General Secretary, Rev Dr Godwin Amaowoh, who signed the statement said the contents of the said petition as published in the media “are lies from the pit of hell, merely intended to distract the Church.”
    He said: “We had wanted to ignore this report but following the insistence of some of our members that these liars should be exposed to stop them from further deceiving the innocent public, we have now deemed it fit to make these clarifications.
    “May we make it bold that we do not have a pension scheme in the Assemblies of God Church as we never in the first instance employed any minister. Assemblies Of God only operates what we call Assemblies Of God Ministers Benefit Scheme”
    “Every minister with the Assemblies of God Church is on voluntary service. Therefore, we have no such thing as pension fund; rather we operate a welfare scheme for our ministers.
    “All the ministers involved signed contracts in that regard in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution of the Church. We follow the provisions of that constitution strictly.
    “It is also apt to make it clear to the members of the public that we do not know about 2000 ministers; perhaps they are with the disfellowshiped Rev Paul Emeka.
    “Our constitution provides that those who are under discipline are not entitled to the welfare scheme, until after certain years depending on the level of discipline.
    “A minister who is dismissed is not entitled to welfare except only his own contribution to the welfare; but if the minister is suspended and he leaves the church, he will not be entitled to the welfare scheme. But if he remains in the church, till after the period required for restoration, he knows the normal processes to follow
    “It also needs to be stated that the body administering Assemblies Of God Ministers Benefit Scheme  is distinct from the General Council and is appropriately registered with the CAC.”
    While accusing Rev. Paul Emeka of bolting away with N17m from the Assemblies Of God Ministers benefit Scheme account, he explained that “the General Superintendent, Rev Dr Chidi Okoroafor and the General Treasurer, Rev. Dr. Vincent Alaje are not members of that body, however, as an officer of the Council, I am aware that Paul Emeka took a whooping N17m away from that account.”
    “Emeka is not qualified for the welfare scheme because he took a loan of N17m from AG-HOMES and instead of paying back the loan, he wrote a letter to AG-HOMES that they should take his entitlement for the loan. His entitlement was not even up to that amount.
    “When he held sway as the General Superintendent, he appointed Rev. Ejikeme Ejim, the current Assistant General Superintendent of the Church as the chairman of the welfare Board, however  when Rev Ejim discovered that Rev Paul Emeka was constantly taking money without given proper account, he voluntarily resigned as the Chairman of the Board.”
    He further stated that any minister in the Church who so desired to receive his package from the scheme, “should apply in accordance with the Constitution of the Church and will receive same if qualified.”
    The Church also denied media reports that the Inspector General Of Police invited some of its Officers on Tuesday 24th February 2017
    “It was a Crude and Dishonest effort by Rev Paul Emeka and his gang to embarrass the church and paint it black by conniving with some Junior Police Officers in an attempt to ruin the Church he claims he wants to be returned as the Leader”.

  • Army officer under fire for invading Delta church

    The Commanding Officer of the 3 Battalion, Nigerian Army, David Ejoor Barracks, Effurun, Delta State, Lt Col. Igwe Omoke is under fire for ordering military invasion of Assemblies of God Church in Effurun, Delta State, last Sunday.

    Lt. Col. Omoke is accused by the Prof. Paul Emeka-led national headquarters of the church of taking sides in the crisis rocking the church, after it emerged that he personally led the military men who invaded and shutdown the Glory House Parish of the church on Otti Street, Effurun.

    Eyewitness accounts and photographs of the military invasion shown that  the army officer was at the scene and directed the disruption of worship, because of his sympathy for Rev. Chidi Okoroafor’s faction in the crisis.

    “On the morning of the attack, the Commanding Officer (Omoke) came with the troops. He was dressed in white native attire and he wore sunglasses. He had earlier visited the church and made inquiries from  neighbours on the whereabouts of the pastor of the church (Pastor Omole).

    “The soldiers who came that Sunday told us we had 10 minutes to round up whatever we were doing and shut down the church and we could not argue with them because they were armed and had removed their name tags and the number plates from the two vans they came with.

    “The vans were fitted with heavy guns – maybe machine guns – and the soldiers were very menacing. We were doing our Sunday school, but we could not complete it because the soldier was counting down: ‘eight minutes, five minutes and so on,” a female member of the church, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told our reporter.

    When contacted by our reporter on telephone shortly after the incident, the army officer denied knowledge of the military operation at the church, saying he was not aware of what our reporter was “talking about.”

    However, in a volte face, Lt. Col. Omoke told journalists on Tuesday afternoon that he took the action following a petition, dated 11th February (three days before the invasion) that the church leadership was disobeying court order and there was a threat to peace in the area.

    He said, “To avert further crisis, I told my men to conduct patrol along the area and ensure that what had happened last two weeks did not occur again. So for any person to say I am taking side is unfortunate, I have sacrifice my time to ensure there is peace in Warri.”

     

  • El-Rufai orders closure of churches, hospital

    El-Rufai orders closure of churches, hospital

    Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai, has ordered the closure of two churches, a seminary school and one hospital in Saminaka, Lere local government area of the state.

    The governor ordered that the institutions be closed down immediately to prevent breakdown of law and order in the area.

    The closure, according to the governor, was as a result of prolonged leadership crisis in the Assemblies of God Church (AGC) in the area.

    A statement issued by the governor’s Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Samuel Aruwan, on Wednesday indicated that the measure was taken at the end of the state security council meeting.

    [ad id=”403656″]El-Rufai said the step taken by the government was to forestall any form of sectarian crisis in the local government and by extension the state.

    He gave the names of the affected religious institutions as – Theological Seminary of Northern Nigeria, (TSNN) Saminaka, Shalom Comprehensive College, Saminaka, Assemblies of God Church, Nmbare, Saminaka and Assemblies of God Church (Jerusalem) Saminaka, and the AGC Evangelist Hospital, Saminaka.

    The governor warned that his administration would not tolerate the use of religion and ethnicity by any individual or groups to cause crisis in the state.

     

  • ‘Trado-medicine is the answer to all ailments’

    the District Superintendent (DS), of Assemblies of God Church (AG), in Rivers State, Rev. Joseph Kalu, has condemned men of God who preach an aspect of the gospel to the detriment of salvation of their members.

    Kalu, who spoke at the Media Day celebration of AG Silver Valley Parish, in Port Harcourt, the state capital, said such one-sided messages make their members’ stereotype, half-baked and tight-fixed against real message of salvation.

    He expressed regrets that most people who parade themselves as “born again” Christians don’t have the real gospel and are not also ready to open their hearts to receiving it; instead they stay under cover of a church as excuse.

    He said: “The major challenge in reaching out to people with the gospel today is the problem of many church goers who would not want to open up to salvation message. They hide under the cover of ‘I am a member of this church or that church and will not want to be preached to’.

    “There are so many things people are preaching that are not the gospel, there are so many things people are preaching that could be regarded as part of the gospel, but when I say real gospel I mean we have in mind the entirety of the gospel, which include the gospel that reaches out to the soul, body and finances of the individual.

    “What we may call error in preaching may not be that one was telling a lie, but when you emphasize one aspect of truth to the detriment of others it turns to error.” He explained.

    He said the programme was initiated in the 90s to sensitise their members on the role of the media in spreading the gospel of salvation.

  • Church hails new leadership

    The Leadership of the Assemblies of God Church, Sapele District, Delta State, yesterday, hailed the peaceful re-election of its General Superintendent, Reverend Paul Emeka, at its 35th General Council meeting in Enugu.

    In a statement by the Presbyters of Sapele District, they described as “illegal” the parallel election held by Reverend Chidi Okoroafor.

    Declaring their support for Rev Emeka, ReverendS Ralph Itotoh, Andrew Mnyin and Roland Best urged aggrieved members, led by Reverend Chidi to abide by the church’s constitution and obey the court injunction on them.