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By Emmanuel Adeleke
A faction of the Supreme Council of Christ Apostolic Church (CAC), has expressed its readiness to welcome their brethren who are in other factions of the church.
Speaking at the 2023 edition of the National Pastors’ Conference in Ibadan, the General Secretary of the AC Nigeria and Oversea, Pastor David Udofia, said God is using the Supreme Council faction to ensure sanity in the church.
Recall that the church had been divided into factions after some pastors executed what they described as a revolution in 1990. It triggered a myriad of crisis and eventually led to the church being divided into three factions, with each faction running a parallel administration.
Udofia lamented the derailment of the church from the foundations of the founding fathers, stressing that since the beginning of the church crisis in 1990, the leaders have taken the church away from the foundations of their fathers which stands on integrity and truth.
“God told our founding fathers that it is only one mat that He has spread for Christ Apostolic Church, and that nobody should divide His church. So it has been a widely acknowledged fact since the beginning of CAC, that God’s vision for the church is that she will continue to manifest the Apostolic order of being and power, but in unity.
“A careful study of the history of the church will clearly attest to the fact that the early leaders sought strenuously to be faithful to that vision, by striving to preserve the unity of the church, despite several assaults and efforts by Satan to divide her.
“However, things fell apart in 1990 when a group of inordinately ambitious pastors executed what they described as a revolution, which triggered a terrible crisis, and eventually laid CAC wide open to various Satanic attacks that divided the church.
“Today, over 30 years after that first revolution, Christ Apostolic Church is shamelessly divided into three factions, with each faction running a parallel administration.
“One faction, General Executive Council (GEC), has its headquarters located at Anlugbua, Orita Basorun, Ibadan. This is the faction whose early leaders triggered the first crisis in CAC three decades ago, in 1990.
“Another faction is located at Irefin area of Ibadan. The place was actually our temporary head office in the Supreme Council for several years, until another crisis erupted in 2017. The crisis was triggered by the General Superintendent of the church at the time, when he and some other Senior Pastors secretly compromised with the GEC faction and made a collective move to force the Supreme Council into a merger with the GEC, in a way that was not favourable to the council and was not in the overall interest of the church.
“That move failed because it met with stiff opposition, and also because the pioneers could not lay their hands on the church’s original Certificate of Incorporation (dated 1985) which the GEC wanted. Eventually, the pioneers of the move forcibly retired the leaders of the Supreme Council at the time (not minding the fact that retirement on account of age was not provided for in the Church’s Constitution) and appointed themselves as the new leaders,” he said.
The General Secretary noted that they have been keeping other pastors in check under them by promising to ensure the unity of CAC, adding that it was a clearly deceitful promise because their actions have shown clearly that they have no genuine desire for the unity of CAC on a foundation of truth.
“Without a doubt, the present state of Christ Apostolic Church is a disgrace. All genuine attempts to reconcile warring groups from the beginning of the crisis have failed, simply because of the insincerity of the group leaders.
“Most of these leaders attended peace meetings with the main concern of how to perpetuate themselves in their respective positions, rather than sacrificially seeking genuine resolution of the crisis.
“In the past three decades, a number of modem Pentecostal Missions have overtaken CAC in spiritual exploits, while CAC only boasts of past glory. Worse still, different strange doctrines and administrative practices have been introduced into the Church by these factional leaders, practices that have gradually eroded the deep respect that people once had for CAC.
“An example is the increasing emphasis on money. These factional leaders now organise grandiose project launchings where they invite moneybags whose salvation is questionable, simply because of their wealth. It is now no longer strange for a Pastor to turn revival or prayer meetings into fundraisers, and the higher the donation, the more the prayers and blessings bestowed by the Pastor on the donor!,” he lamented.
Udofia extended a hand of fellowship to those who are in other factions of the church, who are for the truth and genuinely desire the restoration of the church to her original foundations.
“We look forward to receiving you and marching together in this end-time army. God has told us very clearly that the Eagles of Christ Apostolic Church will continue to gather where the carcass, that is the 1985 Certificate, is located. As the Lord of Hosts lives, this Remnant of the Lord will continue to increase while all other factions will diminish,” the General Secretary said.
Speaking on the current state of the nation, Udofia urged the government to do more to cushion the effects of hardship on Nigerians.
“Government should do more. The way the fuel subsidy was removed was somehow harsh and not people oriented. Some things ought to have been put in place before the removal of subsidy,” he stressed.
