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| Church House |
A pastor of a
branch of the Assemblies of God Church in Gura Riyom, Jos South, Reverend Abel
Davou was, on Sunday May 7th, attacked by members of his
congregation. His attack was the remote ramification of the leadership battle
at the national level that had lingered for a couple of years.
The legal wrangle
had been between the General Church Council, led by General Superintendent,
Chidi Okoroafor, and the suspended General Superintendent of the church,
Reverend Professor Paul Emeka. It started when Emeka refused to accept his
suspension as the General Superintendent. He, as a result, sued the General
Council over his wrongful suspension. While the legal battle lasted, Reverend
Davou’s church, with a population of about two hundred, remained firmly in
support of the Emeka’s faction. Emeka won at the Federal High Court, but the
Church Council appealed the ruling and subsequently won. Emeka, refusing to
accept the ruling, proceeded to the Supreme Court but, again, lost on February
24th. Even though there is the general
feeling that Emeka’s loyalist knew they had lost the case, Reverend Davou said they
weren’t aware of that,; their lawyers kept telling them that there was yet to
be a ruling of the Supreme Court.
The church order
that followed the victory of the General Council of the Supreme Court, a copy
of which was issued to commissioners of police in thirteen states, where the
church has a presence, had directed that all those who supported Emeka’s
faction should desist from using the churches until there is reconciliation at
the bottom of the church hierarchy. This is because, from the ruling, the
churches are properties of the General Council and not Emeka. But Reverend
Davou was arrested and detained for five days, alongside other church leaders,
for using the District Headquarters of the church for a meeting, despite the
court order. It was at that point that the
Reverend saw, clearly, that he and his laity cannot continue to flout the court
order, especially since even the Bible directs that Christians should respect
the rule of law of nations. As a result,
it became necessary for Davou to tell his congregation the truth. But the
congregation refused to accept his explanation, claiming that he was a traitor
who had accepted a bribe from the Church Council, in order to switch his allegiance.
As a result, his congregation, on Sunday 30th April, resolved that
he shouldn’t be allowed to come into the church anymore. It was the reason why,
the following Sunday, the police came to ensure there was no breakdown of law
and order. The members gathered outside and worshipped, while police stayed to
ensure no one opened the church. Since Reverend Davou could not be allowed to
lead the worship, the service continued without him. Instead, younger boys he
had trained, led the service while he stayed inside the pastor’s house, which
stood facing the church. By the time the service ended, the police left. It was
at that time that the crowd, which, by then had been infiltrated by hoodlums,
started banging at the gate, urging the pastor to pack his belongings and
leave. Women went into the kitchen and brought out utensils, claiming they belonged
to the church and the pastor cannot use them. Boys hurled stones at glass
windows, breaking them. When the pastor could not come out, others, with the
aid of a ladder, climbed the roof top and started pulling out shingles. At that point, we tried to take photos of the
boys on the rooftop. That was when the angry youths turned against us, seizing
the camera we were using to take the pictures.
We were saved by the intervention of a few God-fearing people.
The church members
had claimed that, in addition to his “betrayal” of the church members, he “went
after” married female members of the church and had, in the past, defrauded the
church of its finances on several occasions. At that point, the chaos had grown so dire
that it was not possible to reach the pastor for his comments on the
allegations. But another member later told News Tower that the allegations were
made up to find enough excuses to hang the pastor.