It i no longer new that the General Council of Assemblies of God Nigeria unanimously Suspended,Dismissed and Disfellowshippped its former General Superintendent Rev Dr Paul Emeka for violating the Constitution of the church by going to the Law Court to seek redress.
Rev Dr Paul Emeka since 2005 until 2015 had paraded a fake Professorial Certificate he claimed to have acquired from the University of Derby in England which was later discovered to be a forged one he bought from a man in Aba,Abia State.
The Constitution of Assemblies of God Nigeria clearly warned that no Member or Minister should approach the Court for settlement of any matter already at the table of the Executive Commitee of the General Council of Assemblies of God Nigeria.
On March 5th 2014,Rev Paul Emeka through his cronies stormed the Enugu High Court with suit No. E/82/2014 to stop the General Commitee Meeting and while that suit was still pending Arrogant Paul Emeka filed another one with suit No. E/202M/2014 for the enforcement of his fundamental rights.
It is very important to ponder over the desperate ambition of Rev Dr Paul Emeka.
In a Secular World,when a politician looses an election,he files a Petition at the Tribunal,Appeal Court and Supreme Court respectively seeking a reversal of the outcome of the results declared by the electoral umpire that conducted such election.
But in the case of Rev Dr Paul Emeka,he rushed to the court even when no action had at that time been taken against him,and when finally he was disciplined,he rushed to the same court seeking an enforcement of his fundamental Human rights.
The Following were the verdict of Justice Emmanuel Agim of the Enugu Division of the Court of Appeal which is still subsisting till Today
The Court of Appeal held that the Constitution of AG was silent on who presides over the General Committee Meeting and as such that the members of General Committee has the right to elect anybody to chair the proceedings of the day. Thus, election of Rev Dr. Osueke to chair the proceeding of March 6, 2014 was not illegal.
The Court of Appeal ruled that the convening of the March 6, 2014 meeting was properly done and that there were no pieces of evidence anywhere showing that those who attended were forced to attend.
The Court of Appeal ruled that Paul Emeka is legally barred from claiming that there was an infringement on his right to fair hearing because he was properly invited to the meeting but chose not to attend.
The Court of Appeal ruled that there was no evidence anywhere showing that Rev Dr Osueke, the immediate past G.S was usurping Paul Emeka’s power as the then G.S.
The Court of Appeal held that position of G.S is not the exclusive property of Paul Emeka but that of the members and its members have the right to withdraw their mandate at any time.
The court of Appeal ruled that the decisions reached on March 6 were legally valid under the Law since it is a decision of the Majority. Thus, upheld the Suspension/Dismissal of Paul Emeka by majority of stakeholders.The court of Appeal said that Majority Principle applies in the decision making of any organization. The Majority Principle was first formulated in the English case of Foss V Harbottle. The import of the court’s decision is to the effect that the court will normally not interfere in a matter which is within the competence of the organization to settle itself or, in the case of an irregularity, to ratify or condone by its own internal procedure. This rule was followed in the Nigerian case of Abubakri & International Journal of Advanced Legal Studies and Governance, Vol. 3, No. 3, Dec. 2012 37 Ors v. Smith were the court held, amongst other things that; ‘we therefore hold that the rule in Foss v. Harbottle applies to an unincorporated association possessing a constitution or a set of rules and regulations entitling it to sue and be sued as a legal entity, and that the
janat-ul-muslim of Lagos is such a body. It follows that the rule in Foss v. Harbottle applies to religious body in the same way and to the same extent as it does to a limited liability company or a trade union’. The Nigerian court in the case of Elufioye & Ors. v. Halilu &Ors held that the rule in Foss v. Harbottle has two limbs, viz; ‘that in respect of any
wrong against the company or union only the company or union can sue in its own name; and that the court will not interfere in any transaction where it is within the power of the majority shareholders to ratify or undo such action.
The Court of Appeal noted that Paul Emeka would have sued by writ of summons for breach of contract and not for fundamental rights. Please it is important to note that Paul Emeka was elected as G.S and not engaged under contract as a staff and thus breach of contract does not arise.
Since after March 6th,Rev Dr Paul Emeka has been sending Cultists and thugs to attack pastors of Assemblies of God Nigeria.
That Paul Emeka is occupying the Premises of the Church headquarters today is because of the Compromise of the Enugu State Police command under Cp Abubakar Adamu Mohammed who was under payroll from funds belonging to the Church
Promise Uzoma Okoro wrote from Portharcourt,Nigeria
