The constitutional crisis rocking the First Baptist Church, Garki, Abuja is assuming a worsening dimension as peace moves are been stalled.
The immediate pastor of the church, who is the current President of the Nigerian Baptist Convention (NBC), Reverend Israel Akanji, is accusing some members of the church as the root cause of the crisis.
Reverend Akanji, speaking in Ibadan at the first anniversary of his presidency of the Convention, said the affected members, who he described as wolves, wanted to take over the control of the church after he left in August, 2021.
The NBC president, in a video footage, that has gone viral, condemned taking any church dispute to a civil court for settlement, adding that it was against the practice of the Convention to take such an action.
Reacting however, the spokesperson of the group that took the dispute to court, Ambassador Akin Oyateru, said Reverend Akanji was being economical with the truth.
He alleged that the NBC president has conveniently glossed over his subterranean schemings that frustrated internal settlement of the dispute, adding that the group was left with no other option than to seek redress in the civil court.
Oyateru said what Reverend Akanji deliberately failed to tell his audience was that the dispute taken to court was essentially the determination of what the Church Constitution stipulated as modalities for choosing a successor pastor.
He asked: “How does that amount to taking over the Church as Rev Akanji alleged?” and restated that the court case was instituted because of non-adherence to the provisions of the constitution approved by the Church-in-Conference way back in 1998.
He said the constitution and a prepared Financial Manual for use of the First Baptist Church, Garki were handed over to Reverend Akanji on his arrival in the church in 1999.
He added that he was required to go over the constitution, prelude to registering the church with the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) and noted that unfolding events have shown who indeed had perfected plans to take over, or maybe, own the Church.
Oyateru referred to the deposition of the current church secretary to an affidavit under oath which disclosed the existence of another constitution used to register the church with the CAC in 2012 (13 years from 1999), allegedly at the instance of Revrend Akanji.
The development, he alleged was not disclosed to church members and indeed unknown to them until that deposition which was done to answer the summons received from the court in April 2022.
“The current leadership of the church applied to the Corporate Affairs Commission for a Certified True Copy (CTC) of the constitution used to register the church.
“That Certified True Copy given to them by the CAC and the 1998 Constitution submitted to Reverend Akanji on his arrival in the church in 1999 are what is now in contest.
“It was, however, observed that the constitution deposited at the CAC in 2012 lacked definitions of responsibilities of several organs of the church.
“In particular, it did not provide for succession plan of the church pastor in case of resignation, termination of appointment, death etc as is normal in such constitutions of a Baptist Church and even the Constitution of the Nigeria Baptist Convention,” he said.
The spokesperson of the group also recalled the failed attempts by Reverend Akanji to allegedly perpetuate his rule over the church by seeking to transfer his service to the Convention.
“His plan was to run the two positions simultaneously (which, of course, he actually did for three months – April to June 2021) and thus paved the way for his seamless return when he would have dismounted the higher horse of the President, Nigeria Baptist Convention in later years,” he added.
Oyateru said no amount of disinformation and subterfuge can erase the facts in the public domain and expressed optimism that truth will prevail eventually.
He said Reverend Akanji should not have, in the course of celebrating his one year of presidency, forced the group to open a pandora box on his leadership as the pastor of the First Baptist Church, Garki, Abuja.
Meanwhile, an Abuja High Court had, on 30 May, 2022, at the request of the defence counsel which was not opposed by the counsel to the plaintiffs, directed the two parties to continue in their reconciliation process and bring to court their terms of settlement on 6 July, 2022.
