THISDAYonline

There is no doubt that faithfuls within the ranks of the Celestial Church of Christ (CCC) Worldwide are death-weary. They are under severe pressure. Even if they pretend otherwise, the stress is apparently telling on them. THISDAY investigations in the Church's Holy City, Imeko, during the unceremonious burial of late Pastor Philip Hunsu Ajose, revealed that, in fact, they are no longer at ease with the sudden death of their adored pastors.

Last week Friday, Pastor Ajose was buried in Imeko City. His sudden death attracted curious questions as many faithfuls of the church began to suspect "foul" play. But the church's Board of Trustees and Pastors-in-Council came out in stout defence of Ajose's death. Contrary to popular belief, the blindman was said to have died of exhaustion as a result of the series of activities Ajose attended to barely a week after his enthronement.

The high point of the burial ceremony was the wake-keeping service held for him in Imeko on Thursday, March 29, 2001. The vigil, unlike all others, lasted for only four hours between 8 pm and midnight. It was low keyed, attended by a handful of celestial faithfuls from home and abroad. It is not likely that many celestial adherents are happy with the unending crisis at the church, especially given the ugly dimension the incident is degenerating into.

And on the part of the church, its greatest worry would be the continuous wrangling over pastoral duties. Acting on the instruction of the Board of Trustees, Ajose's successor has been put on hold.

Senior Evangelist A. O. Adefeso, one of the members of Board of Trustees, had before Ajose's interment, reiterated the church's stand to remain without a Pastor, at least for now. He maintained that the church was ready to wait and hear from the voice of God who the next pastor will be. He explained that the selection of a pastor for the church is not a priority now. Adefeso informed a quiet audience that what has been happening to the church for the past six months called for prayers.

He reeled out some measures already taken and binding on Cele faithfuls. He warned that in the event that God chooses anybody in future as the next pastor, he should know immediately that his permanent home is Imeko City. He also announced that the seminary in Lagos be relocated to Imeko City with immediate effect.

These measures, THISDAY learnt, were some of the sources of internal wrangling among the rank and file of the Pastors-in-Council and Board of Trustees.

Expectedly, Evangelist Gilbert Jesse, next in rank to late Ajose, and Head of CCC Nigerian Diocese, would have ascended the throne, as the pastor of CCC Worldwide. This was not to be because according to THISDAY sources, there was a heated disagreement between Late Ajose and Evangelist Jesse over certain issues.

THISDAY sources allege that Jesse, before Ajose's death, was posting some shepherds to choice areas without any recourse to the pastor. This act, was said to have infuriated Ajose who, it was further alleged, split the Nigerian Diocese into six to neutralise the powers of Senior Evangelist Jesse.

Jesse's position as the head of Nigerian Diocese was nullified. The complaint was that he was doing postings in Lagos without recourse to Pastor Ajose.

Another internal wrangling which the church contended with during the reign of Pastor Ajose was the position of Imeko City as the World Headquarters of CCC. While Jesse was alleged to have opposed the headquarter's existence in Imeko, Ajose was said to have opposed bringing back the headquarters to Lagos, a move, sources contended, Jesse was not comfortable with.

The opportunity came when Ajose passed on. Some members of Pastors-in-Council, it was further learnt, arranged to bring back the headquarters to Lagos, and this was apparently vehemently opposed by other members.

The news quickly got to Imeko where youths protested such action.

During the burial of Pastor Ajose in Imeko, the youths were seen carrying placards with various inscriptions: "Do not Remove CCC Headquarters from Imeko"; "We Say No to Anti-Imeko Slogans," among others.

Immediately Ajose died, Jesse with the support of others, was alleged to have nullified Imeko as CCC headquarters and took it back to Agidingbi in Lagos. Agidingbi, allegedly, is a neutral ground. It was alleged that Bada's family have strong control over Ketu and Maroko.

They were alleged to have considerable control over all church matters and decisions. This, it was alleged, did not go down well with some members of the Pastors-in-Council, who would rather have firm control of things.

This unpopular decision, it was felt, may have split the Pastors-in-Council and Board of Trustees into factions, leading to a new search for a new pastor.

However, a Prophet, Gilbert I. Aninkan from Abeokuta Diocese, has warned that no anointing should be made for the next three years. He claimed that the message came to him on March 7, 2001. He contended that there is yet no pastor in CCC. He prophesied that a very young man will be chosen when it is time and that he will not come from Nigeria, Republic of Benin, Cote d' Ivoire or European countries, but from a small country in Africa.

But before Prophet Aninkan could conclude his message, he was halted by a group of Celestial faithfuls who were around when he was addressing journalists. He was promptly whisked away apparently to explain the validity of his prophesy to superior members.

After the burial of Bada, the church's World Committee met on Monday, October 2, 2000, and resolved that Rev. Philip Hunsu Ajose, after taking the court injunctions into consideration become acting head of the church, worldwide, while Gilbert Oluwatosin Jesse be acting head, CCC Nigeria Diocese until the legal action in the court is over.

However, the consent and approval of Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) was granted the church thereby leading to the amendment of the church constitution. Thereafter, the World Committee of the church after deliberation proclaimed Rev. P.H. Ajose as Pastor and Spiritual Head of C.C.C. Worldwide, at Celestial Holy City, Imeko, Ogun State on December 24 and 25 , 2000. The amended constitution, which stipulates that the next in rank automatically becomes the next pastor, has been set aside. Jesse, however, has not publicly shown any sign of alienation, neither has he proclaimed himself the next pastor of CCC Worldwide. Now, the spiritual game continues.

Even as these unseemly controversies continue, two senior evangelists of the Celestial Church of Christ (CCC) World Wide; Kolawole A . O. Koiki and Lagun Adesanya recently waded into the fray. They dismissed all those who are laying claims to Celestial Church's highest position as mischievous and a dangerous precedent that puts the life of such claimants at a risk.

Kolawole Koiki said that Late Reverend Pastor Ajose killed himself by declaring himself the Pastor of Celestial Church and that "God sent me in a vision to go and warn Ajose not to make himself pastor but a senior evangelist. So I invited two other senior evangelists -Lagun and Coker. We went to him at Imeko Village in Ogun State. I told him of my vision and I warned him not to become a pastor but he said that nothing will happen. Now, he has lost his life because he wanted an exalted position. They pushed him into it.

Koiki and Adesanya who exclusively spoke with THISDAY said emphatically that the only Pastor who is recognised in Cele and whom the church has ever had is the founder and leader of the church, Pastor S . B . Joseph Oshofa who died in 1985 . They said that before Oshofa died he never ordained or proclaimed anybody as a Pastor and for that reason it is wrong for anyone to assume that position but that "Oshofa publicly declared Pastor Sunday Abiodun Bada as his successor or the next person to him."

Speaking further, Koiki said that "I reminded him of the fact that he was supposed to be an evangelist but he said he will declare himself pastor and if after three months nothing happened then there is no God in Cele. The first anointing was December 25, 2000 and before three months he died."

Koiki and Adesanya strongly believe that the experience of Ajose is a clear demonstration of the fact that there is God in the Celestial Church and that no one can take what God did not give him. Koiki specifically stated that "I also warned Sunday Abiodun Bada who died last year not to make himself Pastor. I told him that God sent me to warn him but he would not listen."

Citing some Bible references to back up his argument, Koiki said that when God wanted to appoint people to assist Moses (Numbers 13: 1-6 ), he asked him to appoint a 'Sheep' from the twelve tribes of Israel. Joshua was appointed and anointed by Moses who gave Joshua part (and not all) of his power as commanded by God. Similarly, Koiki said that in Matthew 23: 8-12 Jesus said that no one can be above his master. He said that it was therefore wrong for any one to declare himself pastor after the death of Oshofa, since no one can create a post above Oshofa.

Asked who can become a pastor in Celestial Church, Koiki said that "Pastor Oshofa was anointed a pastor by God, he could have anointed someone else as a Pastor before his death but he did not and since he did not, no one can assume that position except if God so anoints the person." How can a God-anointed person be known: "By his works. He will be healing the sick, opening the eyes of the blind, curing all forms of sickness, healing barren women and performing lots of other miracles."

Koiki said that the constitution of the church did not abolish the post of pastor but that one can only become a pastor if he is so ordained by the founder, or if anointed by God and this is through the manifestation of the Holy spirit that is outwardly seen by the works of the anointed.

Koiki also said that Bada became a leader because he was so named by Oshofa himself but that presently there are four superior evangelists who hold the highest position in the church hierarchy today. Next are the senior evangelists and next are the evangelists.

Asked what is responsible for the present crisis in the Celestial Church, Lagun said that this started soon after the death of Pastor Oshofa when the seven-member Board of Trustees who are entrusted with the responsibility of keeping custody of the Church's assets began to meddle in spiritual matters and to contest for the position of the headship of the church whereas in the real sense they do not belong to the clergy but to the laity.

Lagun said that it is these members of the Board of Trustees, some of whom have founded their own churches that introduced politics into the Celestial Church. He said that recently three of the members of the Board, in an attempt to amend the constitution to suit them decided to forge the signature of a member of the Pastor-in-Council including three documents purported to be signed by Oshofa, but luck ran against them as they were arrested, locked up and later released on bail.

Speaking further on the management of the church's resources, Lagun said that the trustees have cornered the funds of the church so much so that even "Shepherds" who are posted to rural areas are not being paid their salaries "and when they ask for money they are told to go and pray." He added that since the money remitted by the branch churches is not properly utilised, the various churches have decided to keep whatever money they collect for themselves."

Lagun who is a senior evangelist is the Shepherd in charge of the Celestial Church of Christ, Valley of El-Bereka, Challenge, Mushin, Lagos, would want the world to know that the crisis which is rocking the Celestial Church had been foretold by the founder even before the church was established. Lagun said that when God called Oshofa to establish Celestial Church, he gave him three signs: monkey with wings, a short snake and a peacock. "The monkey with wings symbolises that the church when established would grow and spread to all parts of the world. The short Snake symbolises a period of temptation which the church is currently in and finally, the peacock signifies a glorious period of the church's restoration which is to come very soon." He said that this period will bring to an end all the troubles and crises that the church has gone through.

Lagun who started his own church about thirty years ago said that "There is blackmail in Celestial Church. The church was growing when Oshofa was alive but soon as he died the church started declining. People started to sow weeds instead of wheat. Not only that, the decline of the church is partly due to the fact that many responsible people were convinced by their wives who are afraid that their husbands would marry additional wives (since the church encourages Polygamy) to leave the church to other churches particularly the Pentecostal churches."

Asked to clarify the rumour in some quarters that Celestial Church operates like a cult and gives out charms and concoction to its members, Lagun said that "Such allegation is not peculiar to the Celestial Church even the Pentecostal churches are being accused of using charm or occultic powers."

On why the tussle over the headship of the church, Lagun said that "It is because the church made the funds available to the pastor. Whoever becomes the pastor takes charge of all the finances of the church. He becomes the accounting officer answerable to no one financially. It was that lure which made Bada and Ajose to declare themselves pastors."Against the background of this unseemly half political, half spiritual brouhaha over in-house succession, what are the prospects of early resolution? Perhaps, only time and God will tell.