The battle for the soul of Assemblies of God Church Nigeria got messier at the weekend with the ex-communication of the embattled former General Superintendent, Rev. Paul Emeka, reports SAM EYOBOKA.

He was also dismissed from ministry with his pastoral certificate withdrawn.

These were part of the far-reaching resolutions reached by over 7,000 delegates of the church at the General Council—the highest decision-making organ of the church—meeting in Evangel Camp, Okpoko in Ebonyi State at the weekend.

The delegates agreed that Rev. Emeka had dragged the name of the church in the mud by instituting legal suits and using law enforcement agents to witch hunt some church leaders.

When the church Legal Adv-iser, Barrister P.C. Abuka, subjected the proposal to excommunicate Emeka to a voice vote, delegates replied with a resounding yes.

Abuka explained that the proposal was necessary to institute litigations against Emeka, who he alleged has been making moves in colla-boration with some members to appropriate church po-ssessions.

“You have armed us with this resolution and now we can move against Emeka to protect the church and her property across the nation,” Abuka stated.

The announcement of the dismissal of Emeka and other alleged collaborators believed to be working at cross-purposes with the church’s leadership, was received with a rousing applause by the delegates.

Delegates also danced in excitement when Council unanimously elected Rev. Chidi Okoroafor as the new General Superintendent alongside three other prin-cipal officials and 15 zonal representatives to form the new Executive Council of the church for the next four years.

The former General Super-intendent of the church, Rev. Charles Osueke, canvassed support for the new council members, saying the crisis in the church was precipitated by attempts by a few forces to hijack constitutional pro-visions.

Osueke, who led the church for 27 years, said it was either the church conformed to their destructive demands or face up to confront them.

“If we want automatic peace, we would hand over the church to them. Once we do that, the church and its vision is gone. But we cannot allow that because this church does not belong to anyone,” he stressed.

Speaking with reporters after the meeting, Okoroafor said the measures were necessary to weed out those who he described as dissidents bent on frustrating progress in the church.

He confirmed that legal actions will be taken against Emeka and others seeking to take over the church through suits.

Justifying the reasons for this, Okoroafor said: “We cannot spiritualise legal issues. You can’t just be praying when somebody is taking you to courts.

“We would no long keep quiet and allow our property taken over or our accounts fraudulently run by them.”

He pointed out that the church has identified constitutional loopholes that Emeka and others capitalised on, stating such sections will be massively overhauled when an emergency council meeting holds before the end of second quarter of 2015.