Church, Mafoluku, in the Oshodi area of Lagos as members
of the church chased away their pasto for allegedly
impregnating his housemaid.
It was learnt that the pastor, Barkuma Andrew, was stopped
from leading the church seven months ago when the
housemaid, who was also a member of the church, Grace,
had complications after aborting the pregnancy.
Andrew had lived with his wife, children, wife’s cousin,
Favour, and Grace in a three-bedroomed flat on the church
premises before the incident.
It was gathered that the members had petitioned the Central
Conference of the church in Taraba State to investigate the
alleged accusation.
Then sought the service of another pastor three weeks ago
when the district reportedly failed to probe Andrew.
At 10 am on Sunday, members of the church showed up for
Sunday service only to see that Andrew and some
“unknown” people had commenced the service.
This angered the congregation which proceeded to chase
out Andrew and his group from 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 after 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.”
Punch
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