The Executive Committee of the Assemblies of God Nigeria, Monday, declared it’s readiness to recover all her properties from being occupied by members loyal to Rev. Paul Emeka.
The declaration is sequel to a Supreme Court judgement on Friday which affirmed the earlier suspension of Emeka as the General Superintendent of the Church by the committee.
Addressing journalists at the International Conference Centre of Assemblies Of God Nigeria Evangel Camp Okpoto, the General Superintendent, Rev. Dr. Chidi Okoroafor said the Church would not fold its hands and watch illegal occupants mess up its structures.
Also present at the briefing were all the 19 members of the Church’s General Executive Committee.
Among them were the Assistant General Superintendent, Rev. Pst. Ejikeme Ejim, the General Secretary, Rev. Dr. Godwin Akpan Amaowoh, the General Treasurer, Rev. Vincent Alaje, as well as all the zonal heads of the church across the country.
Okoroafor called on the pastors and the members who stood with Emeka while the matter was to return with genuine repentance before it becomes late.
His speech read: “Blessed be the God of the founding fathers of the Assemblies of God Nigeria. He is a prayer answering God; He is a great God. He has demonstrated that He is the owner of the church. He has shown himself great and wonderful.
In the first place, Assemblies of God Nigeria by biblical standards and our Constitution should not have gone to court to settle an internal matter. However, ethics demands that when one takes you to court you must necessarily answer to show your regards for this quintessential arm of government, the judiciary. This is exactly what happened.
When our former leader, Rev. Paul Emeka, unfortunately took the church to court instead of resorting to our internal administrative set up capable of resolving any issues, the Church responded accordingly.
As our legal men were still on preliminary objections, his lordship, the judge of the court of first instance (Enugu High Court) delivered a surprise judgement granting him his prayers. We appealed the judgement to the Enugu division of the Federal Court of Appeal. We resorted to intensive prayers to the God of our founding fathers, who used the Court of Appeal in a unanimous judgement to set aside the judgement of the High Court and upheld the decision of the General Committee of the Church of 6th March, 2014. Rev. Emeka was not satisfied with the judgement of the Court of Appeal and he appealed the judgement to the apex court (Supreme Court) of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. The same God of our past victory did it again and on Friday February 24th, the Supreme Court sitting in Abuja dismissed his appeal and upheld the judgement of the Appeal Court which had UPHELD THE DECISION OF THE CHURCH WHICH DISMISSED HER FORMER GENERAL SUPERINTENDENT, REV DR PAUL EMEKA.
We are aware that few of our pastors and members unfortunately decided to pitch their tent with an individual instead of the Church. Some may have been deceived into such costly mistake. Some even claimed to remain neutral awaiting the Supreme Court judgement. Today, on behalf of the leadership of Assemblies of God Nigeria, we extend a GENEROUS OLIVE BRANCH to every genuine repentant fellow. The Executive Committee has set up a platform for the returnees to access. We are very open. It is not about victors or losers. It’s about Assemblies of God Nigeria and the mission God handed over to us which must be accomplished without further distractions.
Be that as it may, the Assemblies of God Nigeria is an incorporated Church. ANYONE THAT WOULD NOT ALIGN WITH AG NIGERIA SHOULD VACATE ASSEMBLIES OF GOD PREMISES AND PROPERTY IMMEDIATELY.
Similarly ,the general public, Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria (PFN), the three tiers of government and all banks, are hereby notified that:
A. ASSEMBLIES OF GOD NIGERIA IS NOT DIVIDED
B. SHE HAS ONLY ONE ELECTED EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE.
C. ONE LEADERSHIP COMPRISING ONE GENERAL SUPERINTENDENT, Rev. Chidi Okoroafor, AN ASSISTANT GENERAL SUPERINTENDENT, Rev Pastor Ejikeme Ejim, A GENERAL SECRETARY, Rev. Dr Godwin Amawoh AND A GENERAL TREASURER, Rev. Vincent Alaje.
We appreciate the world Assemblies of God Fellowship (AGF), African Assemblies of God Alliance (AAGA), our legal team, various pastors and members from all the units of Assemblies of God Nigeria for their efforts, concerns and prayers. We appreciate some denominational leaders who stood by the church. We further express our confidence on the Nigerian judiciary under the influence of the fear of God.
God bless you.
