Two Pastors On Gh¢10,000 Bail

EVANGELIST MICAIAH Addei and Caleb Kufuor of the Krofofrom Seventh Day Pentecostal Church in Kumasi, who allegedly led a group of thugs to attack their colleagues at the church's headquarters at Adiebeba in Kumasi, have been put before a Kumasi circuit court chaired by Justice Achina. 

They were both charged with three counts of forcing security, damage to property and assault, but the court granted them GH¢5,000 bail each and adjourned the case to April 11, 2008.

The actions of the said pastors and their accomplices could have turned bloody but for the quick response and intervention of police in the Kumasi Metropolis.

Although most members of the church got injured, the police managed to control the situation and arrested the leaders of the thugs.

Some leaders of the church who spoke to DAILY GUIDE after the tension had gone down, commended the Criminal Investigation Division of the Ghana Police Service (Ashanti) for their efforts at ensuring total sanity in the church.

Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Bright Oduro had cautioned the leaders of the two factions in the church to stay away from each other and worship separately, until a solution was found to the impasse.

He said the directive was based on the tension and seeming misunderstanding and mistrust that had often led to violation of peace whenever the two branches of the church meet at the headquarters to worship together.

According to him, any of the two branches that would fail to comply with the directives would be made to face the full rigours of the law.

ACP Oduro gave the assurance that the police would see to it that the necessary measures were taken to ensure peace, law and order in the church.

DAILY GUIDE gathered that the root cause of the dispute commenced after the death of the late Apostle-Elder Enoch Ofori, founder of the Association of Seventh Day Pentecostal Assemblies in October last year.

The church, which has 60 branches countrywide, was established in 1970.

The paper learnt that after the death of the founder, the leaders of the church appointed his son, Pastor Enoch Ofori Junior to be the acting pastor.

The step that was taken by the majority of the leaders in the church did not go down well with Evangelist Addei who decided to take the law into his own hands and thus appointed himself as the national pastor. His reason was that he, being the nephew of the founder, had to succeed his uncle and not the son.

Evangelist Addei was said to have gathered a group of people to attack members of the church at the headquarters after a fruitless attempt to be appointed as the national pastor.

Evangelist Addei and his accomplices were said to have stormed the premises of the headquarters in Kumasi and broke the wall of the church, destroying the padlocks on the main gate.

Two police officers on duty at the church at that time were reportedly pushed aside by the thugs, who allegedly entered the church hall and assaulted some of the members who were about to start church service.

Evangelist Addei later forced himself into the unoccupied chair of the late Apostle-Elder Ofori.

It was at that point that some of the church members called for the assistance of the police from the Buffalo Unit who came and saved the situation.

From Stella Danso,