Leadership of the First African Church Mission (FACM) has warned members of the Church to desist from any act capable of causing unnecessary disturbance of peace within the church.
The church leadership’s warning is sequel to alleged bid of the third term ambition of its Primate and his efforts to install his cronies in elective positions across the Mission, to enable approval of his tenure elongation.
Copy Of The Warning Letter to The Church
The Church’s Primate, it was gathered had allegedly retired three Archbishops, whom he perceived that may oppose his tenure elongation ambition to achieve his third term ambition.
The Primate has also alleged to have given marching orders to some of his Archbishops and Bishops to ensure his candidates emerged at diocesan elections.
Source within the church who spoke with this medium under the condition of anonymous, said at one of the Diocesan recent elections in Lagos, a candidate Dapo Komolafe, a close ally of the Primate, who was not eligible to contest emerged as the Lay Vice chairman of the diocese, the situation which created anger of the diocesan members, and resulted in a fracas last Sunday at the Christ Church headquarters of the diocese where a new Vicar posted to the church was not accepted.
Also, a member of the youth wing of the church said, who also begged to be anonymous said: “We are frustrated by the effort of the Primate to force Komolafe on us.
“Komolafe has ended his tenure and was not entitled to contest but we know the Primate is forcing him on us to aid his tenure elongation.
“It is crisis everywhere with the Primate at the centre, When he was our Vicar, he divided the church into two and crisis erupted. We are yet to recover from that crisis today.
“Ministers across the Mission are now under pressure from the Primate to do his bid or be transferred out of their location.
“In the Western and Eastern parts of the country, elections have been put on hold at diocesan and Archdiocesan levels because of the refusal of some members to allow the Primate to install his cronies. An elder in the church in the East sums the matter up the FACM is now pushing towards a crisis and may not recover another crisis if the Primate is bent on pursuing his third term agenda and installing his cronies.
“Except the elections to the Lagos Diocese are annulled, and the Primate desists from interfering in all the diocesan elections, there is no hope for the crisis to end early”, the youth member said.
However, the leadership of the Lagos Central Dioceses of the church, in a letter dated October 3, 2023 and signed by brother Oluwaseun Adekoya, the Diocesan Secretary, warned all member of the church to desist from any further unsavoury, discourteous and criminal acts which might cause disparage to the image of the Mission.
The letter captioned “warning To Desist From Unlawful Activities Within The Church Premises“, reads in part: “I have the mandate of the entire Executive Council of Lagos Central Diocese to inform you that the recent fuss and unnecessary disturbance of peace within the cathedral church is of great concern to the Diocese and the General Council at large.
“1. The activities of some members of the church which has no resemblance to attributes of Christianity and the Constitution of this Mission is fast becoming the order of the day in the house of God; particularly as exhibited by some councillors of the Cathedral on Sunday 1st October 2023 during church service.
“2. It is regrettable to state that the act exhibited on the aforementioned date does not only embarrassed the Mission as the video clip which was about to be circulated on social media was nipped in the bud; but such acts are unconstitutional and amount to criminal act by virtue of Section 205 and 206 of ) the Criminal Code Act.
“3. Premise on the foregoing, the Diocesan Council has resolved to warm all concerned members of the Christ Church Cathedral Oyingbo to desist from any further unsavoury, discourteous and criminal acts which might cause disparage to the image of the Mission as subsequent exhibition of this act will not be tolerated; rather appropriate sanctions and legal action may be taken against any persons involved in future repetition of such acts.
“We believe in the unity of the Mission at all stratas; hence there is room for constructive criticisms and dialogue to resolve every impasse towards achieving the goals of Christianity as laid down by the founding fathers of the Mission.”
