Drama As Congregation Chases Lagos Pastor From Pulpit

Hell was let loose yesterday, Sunday,
August 30, at the United Methodist
Church, in the Oshodi area of Lagos.
The church premises
The Punch reports that members of
the church rejected their pastor and
chased him away for allegedly
impregnating his housemaid who is
also a member of his church.
According to report, the pastor,
Barkuma Andrew, was stopped from
leading the church seven months
ago when the housemaid, Grace, had
complications after aborting the
pregnancy. The pastor lives with his
wife, children, wife’s cousin, Favour,
and Grace in a three-bedroom flat
inside the church premises.
It was reported that the members had
pleaded with the Central Conference
of the church in Taraba State to help
look into the alleged incident.
However, when the district did not do
anything about it, the congregation
sought the service of another pastor
three weeks ago. The congregation
got to church at about 10am
yesterday for Sunday service only to
see that Andrew and some “unknown”
people had commenced the service.
This sprouted the anger of the
members of the church as they
chased pastor Andrew and his folks
out of the church. Men from the
Makinde police division, including
the DPO, were said to have
intervened after the incident was
reported at the station. A member of
the church and a former secretary to
Andrew, Moses Sherima, said that the
pastor sent his wife to her village
when he impregnated Grace. He said:
“My room is opposite pastor’s
apartment and I was his secretary.
When he started dating that girl
(Grace), I called his wife’s cousin,
Favour, on the matter. She said
Grace used to tell her whenever the
pastor had sex with her. At a point, I
had to move upstairs when I could
no longer bear it. The day that
abortion happened, I was sleeping
inside my room when I heard Grace
screaming. I rushed there and saw
blood coming out from her private
parts. When the wife came back from
one of her numerous journeys, he
told her to send Favour away.”
Another church member, John
Komboroh, said the church was
embarrassed by Andrew’s conduct,
adding that they were tired of his
leadership. He said:
“The petition of adultery against the
pastor had been sent to the bishop at
the Central Conference. He came
here, but did not do anything about
it. That was why we wrote to the
main body, the Southern Conference
to give us another pastor. His
(Andrew’s) action is an
embarrassment to us. We don’t want
him again.”
The new pastor of the church,
Reverend James Sunday, said:
“We were about to start our service
this morning when we met the old
pastor and some unknown people
already holding the service. I calmed
down my people to avoid chaos.”
Another resident and a female
member, who identified herself only
as Blessing, said the pastor had once
made sexual advances to her.
“My husband is not always at home.
The pastor would call me in the night
and asked if I had slept. One day he
entered my room and gave me a soft
slap on my back. I had only the
wrapper on me. I was surprised and
told my neighbours.” When contacted on the telephone
around 1pm on Sunday, Andrew said
he was in a meeting and promised to
get back to The Punch on the
incident. He told The Punch Metro
that he was still at the meeting when
he was called back around 5pm.
Meanwhile, a South African pastor,
Pastor Peniel, is popularly known for
a number of strange acts. He had fed
his congregation live snake . He had
turned human hair into food for the
consumption of the church members.
He was arrested and charged with
animal cruelty after feeding his
congregants snake but he later
released on bail and he said the
South African police do not know
who they are fighting .
Irate members of the EFF brigade had
reportedly set the church ablaze
about two weeks ago, vowing to feed
Mnguni snakes and rodents, exactly
as he had done to members of his
ETDM church.