By Olayinka Latona
ABAKALIKI—THE Assemblies of God Church Nigeria now has a new leadership in the person of Reverend Paul Emeka as the new General Superintendent. He was elected yesterday at the end of a two-day conference of the Church in Ebonyi State capital, Abakaliki.

Details of how he emerged were still scanty as at the time of going to Press, but informed sources said the new General Superintendent, who takes over from Rev. Charles Osueke, will head a team made up of Dr. Chidi Okoroafor as his assistant.

Others voted in to the new executive council of the church include Rev. J.O. Ikoni, who will serve as the General Secretary and Rev. V. Alaje as the new treasurer of the church.

Rev. Charles Osueke, who was first elected as General Superintendent in 1988, was said to have pioneered several initiatives that culminated in a tremendous growth of the church, including the commissioning of a national secretariat in Enugu.

He is also reputed to have worked assiduously to heal all the wounds that had plagued the church and returned stability within the rank and file of the national church.

Having now put behind her the dark ages, the church embarked upon the Decade of Harvest programme, which was an evangelistic and missionary initiative, aimed at planting a church in each of the 6,451 autonomous communities strategic enough to facilitate the evangelization of all the 9,000 autonomous communities in Nigeria.

The programme lasted a full decade and also saw a launch into foreign missions that yielded fruitful results. The Decade of Harvest was officially concluded in November 2000 at a national convention tagged Hosanna 2000, which held at the Evangel Camp.

In 1994, the Osueke administration received another mandate at the General Council held in Port Harcourt.