…as District Overseer challenges dismissal
By Olayinka Latona
THE end might not be heard yet of the purported suspension of a district overseer of the Foursquare Gospel Church for allegedly shunning a leadership conference organised by the church headquarters. Addressing newsmen in his church office in Ikorodu, Lagos, Rev. Isaac Adeyemi of Livingspring Tabernacle, Ikorodu, described the letter of suspension allegedly published in national dailies and the various allegations heaped on him as “outright lies, maliciously concocted and baseless.”
Five months ago, the leadership of Foursquare Gospel Church in Nigeria announced the suspension of the host pastor of one of the churches under the control of Foursquare Gospel Church, the Livingspring Tabernacle, Ikorodu, Lagos, Rev. Isaac Adeyemi.
According to the church leadership, the cleric was suspended for six months for allegedly shunning a leadership conference organised by the church headquarters. The matter got to a head when the church leadership came for the arrest of Adeyemi during a Sunday service, the action was resisted by Adeyemi local church members.
Explaining his position, Adeyemi maintained that his ordeals began when he contested for the position of general overseer in the last election with the present leader, alleging victimization.
He averred that the said publication is an act of intimidation and oppression designed by the leadership to tarnish his image and “forcefully and illegally take over the church he had pioneered to maturity.” Adeyemi noted that the matter has been reported to the police and investigations are ongoing, stressing that “the said publication alleging misconduct against my person, and my dismissal from the Foursquare Gospel Church in Nigeria is a charade, a devious, wicked and calculated device to destroy my ministry without just cause.” According to the District Overseer, he had decided to remain calm over the issue which has lingered for a long time culminating into the arrest of his son by Zone 2 police station, Onikan, Lagos where he was detained for three days, but has now decided to come out and put the records straight in the wake of the publication.
In his words: “In 2010 I was one of those who contested for the position of General Overseer (G.O) that brought the current G.O. to office. When he came into office in November 2010, the next month, we had what we call National Key Leaders’ Retreat. At that retreat, he requested to meet with District Overseers (D.O). We met with him and after the meeting, he singled out three of us and said: ‘Eyes are on you, you must be very careful, I will take no nonsense from any of you’.
Adeyemi revealed that the church leadership has refused all Godly entreaties to settle the matter amicably, instead was determined to unseat him, noting that the petition by the leadership to the police zonal command is still under investigation before they took laws into their hands. He therefore called on general public to disregard the publications in their entirety, describing them as baseless pieces of rubbish stating that he remains the host pastor of the church.
Unable to have him arrested, Foursquare leadership recently published in two national dailies disclaiming and dismissing Rev. Adeyemi.
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