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| Rev. Emeka |
In this interview with Bayo
Akinloye,
Rev. Paul Emeka asserts that he remains the authentic general superintendent of
the Assemblies of God Church despite claims by the church that he has been
sacked and his pastoral certificate withdrawn
It was reported that you rejected every
attempt to amicably settle the disputes between you and those now at war with
you in the church?
I accepted reconciliation but they rejected it;
they seemed bent on creating division in the church. All efforts to reconcile
everyone failed because there are those who are not interested in maintaining
the peace and oneness of the church.
I tried my best to ensure that there was
reconciliation but to no avail. They came up with an illegal council election
saying that I have been excommunicated; that will not make reconciliation
possible. Like I mentioned before, a former governor of Ebonyi State, Sam Egwu
and the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria were brought in to settle whatever
grievances or differences they may have against me. They don’t want peace at
all; they refused every effort to bring about reconciliation.
The church, through the general secretary,
said you were given a condition for reconciliation when you were suspended.
According to him, you were asked to withdraw all the lawsuits you instituted
against the church before reconciliation could be possible. Is this true?
They are claiming I took the church to court; I
had to institute a lawsuit against them when they threatened to throw my
property away from the church. Then I told them if I am to withdraw the
lawsuit, first of all remove the suspension you placed on me. They committed
coup in the church and they are happy. There is one of them called Chidi
Okoroafor who behaves like a military commander in the Assemblies of God –they
don’t want peace at all. They even acted against a court injunction not to
conduct a meeting of the general council; they convened an illegal meeting to
excommunicate me and elect another general superintendent.
According to Rev. Amaowoh, one of the
reasons you were excommunicated from the church is that you bear a title,
‘Professor’ that they felt is an embarrassment to the church. Can you please
tell, are you a professor and where did you get the title from?
The fact of the matter is that they are running
their branch –they are running their own structure and I am running my own
structure. They are running propaganda against me; there can be only one
general superintendent of the Assemblies of God Church at a time –and that’s
me.
Sir, are you a professor?
Yes, I am.
A professor of what sir?
I am a professor of Theology.
Who controls the headquarters of the
church now?
I am there; I am running it. I am the general
superintendent of the church.
Let’s consider another issue that was
raised by the general secretary-elect. He alleged that you were sacked from the
church due to some financial misappropriations on your part. Could you please
tell us exactly what happened?
These are all lies. They even wrote a petition
against me to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission to investigate me.
The EFCC officials came and found me innocent. I have not stolen or misapplied
any money belonging to the church. All their allegations are empty. They made
all these accusations of embezzlement because they wanted to soil my image
–because they wanted to take over the structure of the church. How can one man
who does not have the principal mandate in a corporate organisation
single-handedly take N200 million when there are other signatories to the
account? When the EFCC officials came around to investigate their petition, the
treasurer was asked if one person can sign a cheque he kept quiet –he couldn’t
answer them. The EFCC had to go back because there was nothing to the petition
written against me; it’s all lies.
Also, how will you respond to the
allegation that you are egocentric and stubborn?
This allegation of theirs is very funny. There is
no place in the constitution that if a man is stubborn you suspend him. I do
not know what they mean that I am stubborn and egocentric. In everything I do,
I carry them along. There is no reason for me to act alone since I represent
the church. This is a frivolous accusation. Perhaps, all the problems started
when I insisted that certain things that were not being handled properly in the
church should be re-addressed. For instance, the Assembly press which has been
run for many years does not have an account. I insisted there must be proper
rendering of account. Another thing is that some money belonging to the church
was being put in some private bank accounts and I made it known that things
like this cannot continue in the church. There is a group of individuals in the
church who feel they can transfer church money into their private bank
accounts. I spoke out against these ones and they raised their eyebrows at my
objection to their putting church money in a personal bank account.
Since you said you run the administration
of the church at the headquarters, are you willing to take back the other
faction of the church if they retrace their steps?
I am the general superintendent of the Assemblies
of God Church; I want reconciliation. I am not interested in presiding over a
divided house. I am the spiritual head of the church. I am not happy with the
way the church has become polarised. It is better for every member of the
church to come under one umbrella. Nobody likes division –any kind of division.
I am for reconciliation. If they return today I will reconcile with them and we
will all become one body as we used to be.
In conclusion, what’s your message to
those on the other side of the divide in the Assemblies of God Church?
My message is that I want them to come back to
the church; for all of us to become one flock under one united church. I want
us to reconcile. A divided house will fall.
Punch
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