The parent church where Venerable Femi Taiwo, who was sacked by the Lagos State Government for allegedly disrespecting the wife of the governor, Bolanle, the African Church, Ifako Diocese has described the Governor's action and that of his wife as an act of peoples who do not know God.
Rt. Rev. Michael Adeyemi who is the head of the Church in Ifako made the statement in an interview with Punch Newspaper on the saga. The man of God further explained that apart from the cruel act meted on the man of God, by ejecting him within 24 hours, his car was also burnt to ashes by 2: am at his official resident by unknown people
Belo is an excerpt of the interview as adapted from Punch Newspaper
What has been the experience of the pastors of the church with Mrs. Ambode and former first ladies in Lagos State?
While I will not want to be too personal, as a church, we are very much at home with Dame Abimbola Fashola than with Mrs. Bolanle Ambode. Mrs. Fashola is a mother, very humble, knowledgeable and mature. She has a way of dealing with men, women, young, old, men of God of different cadres and she knows how to appreciate people. Many of these attributes are somehow lacking in Mrs Ambode. Maybe this is because of her tender age; she needs to acquire more experience.
What is the state of the Venerable and his family now?
I want to thank the members of the Chapel of Christ the Light. They have been very fantastic. They accommodated him and furnished the place he is staying now. His car got burnt where he parked it. If a car is parked in a government house and that car got burnt in the middle of the night like 2 am, there is foul play. Even that alone, if the government is very fair, they were supposed to set up a panel to investigate it. But that did not happen.
When this incident happened, it was these members that bought him another car so that he would not feel the impact of what happened. Even as a church, we are making plans to ensure he is not stranded.
He will not be without a ministry. We are going to give him a station very soon if he is not called back. We just don’t want to rush it.
What will the church do if the government recalls him?
If government calls him back before he resumes at his new station, then we will need to sit down with them because this is a complete embarrassment to the church. Ambode, his wife, the state government, embarrassed and insulted the African Church. We must sort things out and give them our stand.
They may decide to recall him because of the tension that has arisen over the incident only to do something worse. These politicians cannot be predicted. Any politician that does not have the fear of God cannot be trusted. The embarrassment they caused us has never happened to any other denomination. Even during the military era this can never happen.
Why do you think some government officials don’t respect pastors and priests?
They lack the fear of God. They are conscious of position and money and with this, the society cannot move forward. Also, our religious leaders have messed themselves up because of money. They are patronising the politicians and they are making them to believe that their anointing is not real.
But I believe that any politician, who has the fear of God in him, even if any minister misbehaves, you are not the one to judge him. You should ensure you do your part. If Ambode or his wife knows the tenets of Christianity, they will not deal with Venerable Taiwo like that. They will know that this is a man of God.
They should have said have written to us, saying they don’t want to embarrass the church and we as a church would have handled it. We have a lot of other ministers across the state and the country. But they didn’t do that because there is no fear of God in them. They are not ready to submit to the Will and Word of God. Ego is killing us.
If not ego, why should Mrs. Ambode feel embarrassed that she was not called first to receive the anointing? But when ego takes the better part of any individual, that person will misbehave and if you tell him or her the truth, he or she will not agree.
Read Full interview from Punch Newspaper
And where iz diz our country iz going to. All you hear everyday iz sad new, why can't our Gov make us happy for christ sake? it's well IjN
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