THE embattled second son of the founder of the Sabbath Mission, popularly known as Community of Yaweh Worldwide, Mr. Duluem Amakaeze has been arrested by the Anambra State police command for allegedly burning part of the headquarters of the church at Nnobi in Anambra State and allegedly causing disaffection among the teeming members of the church.

He has however been granted bail and warned not to disrupt activities of the church.
But Duluem denied setting the house on fire, adding that he was already at the police after several hours before they came up with the story that he set the house ablaze.

His arrest, which coincided with the on–going feast of Passover of the church, was a culmination of his alleged anti –church activities over the years during which he waged a battle with his elder brother who is the General Overseer, for the control of the church.

When Saturday Vanguard visited the church, many members who arrived from various parts of the world for the festival were seen discussing the activities of Duluem, who allegedly sponsored the dismantling of banners mounted in strategic places and setting fire on one of the buildings in the large community.

Chief security officer of the church, Mr. Vincent Iwobi was seen calming down the church members and ensuring that preparations for the festival were not disrupted. He said: “We got a report that they intended to disrupt our festival which began Wednesday and we had to report to the police who later arrested him. While we were at the police headquarters in Awka, we were informed that he set fire in one of the rooms before he was taken away. We confirmed this because he was the only person occupying the entire building.”

Saturday Vanguard was also informed that during the feast of Tabernacle in October last year, the same Duluem allegedly got some members of the Special Anti Riot Squad, SARS, who allegedly invaded the holy worship ground in an attempt to disrupt the ceremony which the over five million members of the church considered as a sacrilege and therefore excommunicated him.

Registrar of the Community of Yaweh Worldwide, Justice Stanley Nnaji, a retired Judge of the Enugu State Judiciary, told Vanguard that following the disturbing activities of Duluem since he returned from abroad, the church had to write him to retrace his steps and when he did not change, the Community had to petition the Anambra State Commissioner of Police.

Going down memory lane on what led to the current problem in the church, Justice Nnaji said: “The incident is an extension of what had been on board for sometime. It all started when the wife of the late High Priest and founder of the church, Mother Mary Amakaeze started claiming all the property of the church. So far, she had sold many parcels of land belonging to the church here in Nnobi, as well as those in Enugu , Abuja and London .

“This latest incident arose from her misconception, misunderstanding and misinterpretation of the order of an Enugu High Court in respect of the estate of the late High Priest and founder of the church. But the order of the court was specifically in respect of a property situate and known as No 81 Adetokumbo Ademola Crescent, Wuse 11, Abuja which formed part of the late founder’s estate when he died 17 years ago.

“At the death of the founder and because he did not write any will, the family articulated his property and applied to court for letter of administration which was granted. All the property constituting the estate for which the letter was granted never included the church property since the church is administered by a board of trustee before, during and after the death of the founder. Also, the church is duly registered with the Corporate Affairs Commission, CAC, as required by law. To our dismay and chagrin, 17 years after the death of the founder, Mother Amakaeze started claiming ownership of the church along with her second son.”

Worried by Duluem’s activities, the governing council of the church in a letter to him dated 23rd April, 2011, articulated what it considered as unruly behaviour towards the church, recalling that members of the council had earlier given him fatherly advice to humble himself before his elder brothers and be prepared to go through the prescribed processes in compliance with the doctrine of the church namely, purification, immersion baptism and ordination.

Part of the letter signed by all the 14 members of the governing council read: “You never heeded to this advice and even while the council was busy deliberating and working out modalities for your welfare, you gave death threat to the council members through a text message, vowing to remove the lives of three council members.

“It is also of the knowledge of the council that you have physically abused ministers and members of the community, especially our foreign guests whose place of stay during the feast was denied them by your person, thereby embarrassing the community.

“You have also gone further to pollute the minds of some of our youths and even engaged some of them as body guards and prevented members of the community from having access to their rightful worship arena, Yaweh’s Home, for their midnight prayers.

“The council has regrettably also noticed your further acts of insubordination and disobedience to constituted authority, including refusal to grant due respect to the General Overseer of our great community; desire to visit branch missions of the church without the consent of the General Overseer to create confusion among members; desire to bring the community to ridicule by writing a petition against the General Overseer to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC; desire to run a parallel government with neglect to the authorities of the General Overseer of the organization constituted authorities, as well as constant refusal to heed to the advice of the council on the best way forward in seeing that the great legacy by your father, is not made in vain.