Youth members of Assemblies of God Church, Zion Family, at 134B Wethedral Road, Owerri, Imo State on Sunday protested a petition against their pastor as they locked out everyone and sealed the premises of the church.
The action of the youths forced people to go home as no service was held despite the presence of other church members.
The youths who arrived early barricaded the entrance of the church over a petition against their officiating minister, Reverend Obinna Nwoko, by the Odionyemma family over the use of the Ofo (a staff of authority in Igbo society).
According to the youths, they decided to lock out the entire members to press home their position saying that the allegation was untrue but was over interference from the family.
The President of the church’s youth fellowship, Kingsley Asuzu, told journalists that they decided to lock the church because the Odionyenma family had tried to assert their influence on the church for long.
Asuzu said they and other members were angry about a petition to the General Council of the church at Enugu over the alleged misconduct by their officiating minister, Nwoko.
Asuzu said the accusation was untrue saying, “How can they accuse him of gross misconduct? They only want to use that to hang him in their petition. He has done nothing wrong, and the family should rather be blamed for what’s happening in the church.
“How can a minister be officiating on the pulpit and then they will go there to embarrass him by forcefully dragging the microphone from him and asking him to go and sit down?
“The problem is that they have been forcing the minister to do their wishes but when he refused, they brought the idea of writing a petition against him, alleging that he had gone traditional in his ministrations by ending his prayers or teachings with “Ofor”. But this is not true.
“We wish to let the General Superintendent and all the Assemblies of God community both locally, nationally, and internationally know that the Zion family will stop at nothing to resist, revolt and withstand any appearance of injustice, unfairness in the process of handling the petition”, Azuzu said.
However, when contacted, Pastor Godfrey Odionyemma acknowledged that there was a petition by the Odionyenma family but maintained that the matter would be decided by the apex leadership of the church.
Odionyemma said, “The issue you called for is currently under the careful handling of the apex leadership of the Assemblies of God Church, Nigeria. As such, I have not received the necessary authorisation from the church leadership in Enugu State to engage in further discussions on this matter.
“I believe it is essential to honour our church’s constitution and its guiding principles as we navigate these challenges at this time. Therefore, I will refrain from commenting on the unrest at this time, trusting that our church leaders will handle the situation with the wisdom and fairness it deserves.”
Efforts to speak with the Police Public Relations Officer for Imo State, DSP Henry Okoye, proved abortive as he didn’t take his call nor respond to the message sent to him via WhatsApp.
