On Wednesday, September 15, news filtered into town that Kaduna State Governor, Nasir el-Rufai, had ordered the closure of Assemblies of God’s Church, Saminaka.
The government cited the crisis in the national leadership of the church which spilled over to the Saminaka District of the church, and is degenerating into a threat to peace and stability in the state.
El-Rufai’s Media Assistant, Samuel Aruwan, disclosed in a statement that the decision was taken by the State Security Council.
Also ordered to be shut are the Theological Seminary of Northern Nigeria (TSNN); Shalom Comprehensive College; Assemblies of God Church, Nmbare, Assemblies of God Church (Jerusdalem), and AGC Evangelist Hospital, all in the Saminaka vicinity.
Aruwan explained: “The Council observed that the leadership crisis has led to disintegration of order in the church, raising tensions between the followers of the rival camps and also extending to the students of the church-owned school and seminary, who are now split and divided on factional lines.
“The Council reviewed previous efforts made to resolve the crisis. It noted that these were aborted by those involved in the leadership tussle, principally to preserve their personal interests with no little concern for the common good, and the peace and security of Kaduna State.
“The Council unanimously agreed that if left unchecked, the growing tension may degenerate into total breakdown of law and order in the said area, with the potential to spread to other parts of the state.
“The Council also directed that the status quo with regard to farmland, houses and other assets by the church be upheld pending resolution of the leadership crisis, which is a matter before the Supreme Court.”
El-Rufai warned that his administration will not tolerate the use of religion and ethnicity to cause crisis in the state, and that he will prosecute anyone implicated in fomenting crisis in whatever form.
He said church members affected by the closures will be admitted into government schools or hospitals, as the case may be.
At the heart of the crisis is the office of the general superintendent of the church which two members are laying claim to.
Events got to a head in September 2013 when members of the church’s Body of Ambassadors and National Consultative Assembly (BANCA), the highest decision making body of the church (laity), reportedly passed a vote of no confidence in the General Superintendent, Reverend Paul Emeka, and appointed Reverend Chidi Okoroafor to replace him in an acting capacity.
Several branches of the Assemblies of God Church, including the one in Saminaka, have since been divided between the two church leaders, taking both “men of God” and their members through different levels of court to the Supreme Court where the final pronouncement is expected to be made.
About a fortnight ago, I read a poser on the Facebook wall of my friend Emeka Oparah, a Director in Airtel, where he sought responses from his friends on the thinking of Jim Obaze, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Financial Reporting Council of Nigeria (FRCN) who recently resurrected the argument about taxing churches.
“Churches must be prepared to pay taxes from their businesses,” was how the poser appeared on Emeka’s wall and you could imagine the many responses because of the emotion that religion and spirituality evoke.
I was particularly concerned about what Fred Chukwuelobe, former media aide to former Governor Chris Ngige of Anambra State had said: “Many churches in Nigeria today are businesses. Let them pay tax.
“I pay tax from the money I make from people who themselves pay tax before patronising me.
“The era when one man and his wife claim ‘Holy Ghost anointing’ while carrying out business should be over. If you don’t want to be taxed, then turn your church into a truly and strictly charitable organisation and not a ‘one-man’ business.”
I do not subscribe to the view that churches ought to be taxed because of what I call latter day indulgencies of the so-called men of God, some of whom need to be reminded of what the role of the church ought to be.
And as most contributors to Emeka’s poser noted, churches must exist primarily to provide charitable and spiritual services to their members.
“Churches are classified as charitable organisations in many developed nations. In fact some governments like the UK fund churches because of the spiritual, social and psychological solutions they provide.
“Every pound sterling given to the church by a tax payer, the government adds 28 pence. I think Nigeria needs to fine tune how churches are managed in the country.
“Taxing churches will not help the system. Rather the government should see that churches properly utilise their resources in line with solving societal problems.
“There is nothing wrong with churches being of immense help to people of their immediate community. This must be worked out according to needs,” says Ifeanyi Uhuegbu, a Nigerian journalist resident in the United Kingdom.
To me, “When those who ought to know what churches stand for and what their roles should be and have always been, begin to make comments that suggest they have monopoly of knowledge and that they are questioning the supremacy of God on spiritual matters, I feel reduced as human with all the spiritual paraphernalia God has endowed human beings with ….”
Certain things happen today in churches that give fillip to the proposition of taxing the church. Most church leaders have tended towards elevating economic and personal matters above spiritual and charitable roles for which churches ought to be planted in the society.
The implication is that the spread of the Gospel in line with the tenets of Christianity in such places leave little impact on the spiritual wellbeing of the people according to the dictates of God.
What has consumed the Assemblies of God Church in Kaduna, leading to its closure and which will forever hunt the larger family of that ministry is nothing but a recourse to the wishes and caprices of the carnal mind; the sinful men (women inclusive) who see themselves as leaders with little consideration about the desires of God for which they were sent there in the first place as ministers.
It is not only shameful but embarrassing that the court would be relied upon to determine who superintends over the household of God where some so-called leaders – lay and ecclesiastic – are in their numbers.
The question is, where then is the place of the spirit of God in the Assemblies of God Church that should be the guide when matters spiritual are involved?
I see a situation where some people will now descend on El-Rufai as closing churches in Kaduna to whip up sentiments. I see people playing politics with the intervention made by El-Rufai.
I see some Christians and churches throwing dart at him and calling him a hater of their faith.
But truth be told, the governor deserves the commendation of all to the extent that with the decision his administration had taken, the lives of some members of the church have been spared.
It is always good to err on the side of caution and I think that is what the Kaduna government had done.
That a church whose premises ought to be haven for those running from danger should now be the fertile ground for fomenting crisis capable of consuming its own members is something we all deserve to condemn.