The church
premises
There was commotion on
Sunday at the United Methodist Church, Mafoluku, in the Oshodi area of Lagos as
members of the church rejected their pastor and chased him away 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 lives with his
wife, children, wife’s cousin, Favour, and Grace in a three-bedroomed flat on
the church premises.
According to Punch, the members had petitioned the
Central Conference of the church in Taraba State to investigate the alleged
atrocity. They, however, sought the service of another pastor three weeks ago
when the district reportedly failed to probe Andrew.
Punch learnt that members had come to church around 10am for Sunday service only to
see that Andrew and some “unknown” people had commenced the service.
It was gathered that
the development resulted in a breach of the peace as Andrew and his group were
chased 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, told Punch 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 Punch on the incident.
He told Punch that he was still at the meeting when
he was called back around 5pm.
The Lagos State Police
Public Relations Officer, DSP Patricia Amadin, had yet to reply to a message
sent to her line as of press time.
-Punch
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