Shame as Assemblies of God’s crisis escalates… Members battle new head

The fraud and leadership crises rocking the Assemblies of God Church Nigeria took another dimension recently as church members resisted an attempt by the Assistant General Superintendent, Chidi Okoroafor-led executive members to hold its meeting at the church premises.
  Members of the church, led by various pastors drawn from Enugu and its environs who arrived at the venue of the meeting as early as 7:00 a.m. had locked the entrances of the branch located at Isiagu Street, Uwani, on getting wind of the meeting.

  Displaying placards, some of which read: “There should be no illegal meeting here, “Away with illegal executive committee”, “Ochu Isaac must go”, “Assemblies of God Church is not for sale”, “We want justice and peace”, among others, the protesters vowed to occupy the premises until night falls.
  They also invited the police and other security agencies to ensure none of the executive members gained access to the premises.
It was gathered that the meeting was called to brief members why their General Superintendent (GS), Rev. Prof Paul Emeka, was allegedly suspended on March 6 this year by the executive committee members of the church.
  Meanwhile, the Okoroafor-led group, which had arrived the venue in company of soldiers, retreated on sighting rampaging members with placards.
  Efforts made to speak with Okoroafor proved abortive.
  But the South-East Media Co-ordinator of the church, Rev Uchenna Stanley Ago, who spoke with reporters, said they decided to embark on peaceful demonstration following what they perceived as “injustice” going on in the church, stressing that the Okoroafor-led group had decided to throw caution into wind.
  He said: “You cannot do things one-sided because even when you do it, it will spark off crisis. Everybody has its own fundamental human rights of worship, speech and association and that is why members are saying no, that they will stay here till night falls to ensure that this meeting does not hold.
  “This gathering today is because of the chaotic situation we found
ourselves in this church right from March 6, 2014. A group of people gathered and called themselves executive committee and held a kangaroo meeting where they suspended our General Superintendent. They have been touring the whole federation and any chapter they visit, they will tell them what the General Superintendent did and why they suspended him without giving him a fair hearing. Now, they decided to come to Enugu, which is the headquarters of the Assemblies of God Nigeria, and we said no that we wouldn’t like them to come because coming here will bring problem.
  “People are everywhere saying lock the gate and that the meeting
should not hold. Any day they want to come, while coming, they should come with the General Superintendent and his group so that when they sit, we will hear from both parties and he will be given opportunity to defend himself. We look at the entire situation as injustice and denial of fundamental human rights. This matter is in court and the court granted the GS status quo ante bellum that everybody should sheathe his sword until the court of competent jurisdiction will now say what should be and these people are still violating the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria by trampling upon the court order and are moving about anyhow. That is why you see what is happening here.”
  He stated that what was happening in the church was bad, stressing that until the two parties were brought to a roundtable, peace would continue to elude the church.

 Guardian