₦airaland Forum

The Rt. Rev. Michael Adeyemi is the head of the African Church, Ifako Diocese, and the boss of the Presiding Chaplain of the Chapel of Christ the Light, Ikeja, Venerable Femi Taiwo, who was sacked by the Lagos State Government for allegedly disrespecting the wife of the governor, Bolanle. In this explosive interview with SAMSON FOLARIN, Adeyemi states the position of the church.

Venerable Taiwo, who is from this (Ikeja) diocese, was the chaplain for three years and after the three years he applied to become the presiding chaplain. He was interviewed and discovered to be qualified. He was subsequently employed as the Presiding Chaplain.



It was on Monday, May 15, that Venerable Taiwo called me that there was a development in the chapel and that he was coming to see me. He came and showed me the sack letter, saying that his appointment had been terminated.

However, before now, there have been some issues in the chapel. He said the governor’s wife called him and the chaplain, who was his assistant, to see her. The two of them went there and they had a good interaction. There was no problem. That (incident) happened in the first week of May.

He said some members of the governing council then called him to know why he went to the First Lady’s office and he explained to them that he and his assistant were invited. The council then told him he shouldn’t have gone to see her and that he should have allowed them to resolve any issue. The council then asked him and his assistant to write an apology letter, which they did. The governing council said the letter was to assuage the First Lady because she felt she was being challenged and accused of fraternising with a former presiding chaplain. According to Venerable Taiwo, that was the only encounter they had before the Monday 15th sack letter came.





I asked him specifically if he had been receiving queries from the officials of the chapel or the government, but he said it has never happened.

I know Taiwo. He is a very responsible minister of God; very knowledgeable, humble and disciplined. I have worshiped at that chapel a few times myself. And I made personal investigations about him. Even the members of the chapel are saddened by this development. If you know about what they have been doing since this incident happened, you will know venerable Taiwo is a man everybody respects.

Like what?

They accommodated him and furnished the place just to make him comfortable. They have also written to the government to rescind the decision. He is not a wayward person.


It is highly justified. Even as a church, we are furious with the government. But we are trying to approach the issue from different angles. One is to appeal to the government, if reasoning will prevail. The governor himself and his wife can rescind the order. The head of the church, His Eminence, Primate Emmanuel Josiah, has written to the governor’s office. He has been asked to book an appointment with the First Lady. We are aware that the letter written to the First Lady is not being attended to; she is not even ready to make herself available.

Has the church received any formal complaint against the Venerable?

That is where as a church we are angry with the government. If he is a serial offender as alleged, nothing stops them from reporting him to the church, that the person you seconded to the office here has a bad attitude and we would have called him to order. We have many others that we could have sent to the chapel. But we are very sure of him that was why we sent him. The government failed to inform us and for government now to have taken such a drastic step and tell him to leave (his official apartment) within 24 hours leaves much to be desired.

You mean the 24-hour ultimatum was truly stated in the sack letter?

I was here (in my office) when he (Venerable Taiwo) called me that they asked him to pack out within 24 hours and that he was even told that the governor’s wife would not like to hear that he was still being seen around. Then we started wondering what could have happened? Somebody that has a wife and kids, and you asked him to go within 24 hours? Where do you expect him to go?

This is very ungodly! It is a sacrilege for someone who happens to be a Christian. Even when Fashola (former Lagos State Governor) was there, despite being a Muslim, he never took such a decision. Now that the governor (Ambode) is a Christian, which we all fought for, he is the one taking ungodly decisions. We have written letters to CAN and CCN, including the Methodist Church where the Venerable Taiwo’s assistant came from, that if Mrs. Ambode, is trying to cause divide and rule among the Christians, she should go ahead. We are not afraid of anything.

We understand that Mrs. Ambode is also a pastor in the Redeemed Christian Church of God, let her go and ask the RCCG Pastor, Enoch Adeboye, whether what she did was the right thing to do to a minister of God. It is ungodly and very sad.

READ: Anointing service drama: Angry Nigerians back sacked pastor, condemn Ambode’s wife …church members offer cleric five new apartments
When the church heard that the sack was about anointing oil, what was the general reaction of the church?

Anointing oil is a personal thing. Nobody has the right or power to force anybody to take anointing oil. It is even ungodly to say a worshipper should take it by force. Even Holy Communion is voluntary; there is no protocol when it comes to that. When you are in the House of God, rich or poor, old or young, you are all equal before God. If Ambode will recall, anytime she comes for service, she will be the one to sit in the front and she has the right and privilege of going to the stage first if she is interested.

What did the Venerable tell you happened at the service that day?

I have tried to confirm from Taiwo what really happened on that Sunday and he said the service held as usual. There were three of them who stood to minister the anointing oil and few of them who wished to receive the oil came forward. Ambode’s wife later joined the queue. And she even participated in the thanksgiving service.

But why was she angry that day? The church members said she left in annoyance.

From my findings, her point of annoyance was that she was not recognised. She was not duly recognised and I asked that at what point was she expecting that recognition? I was told that Venerable Taiwo mounted the pulpit to deliver the sermon, she expected him to recognise and welcome her to the service. To some extent, I agree with her because the Bible says we should give honour to whom it is due.

Was that enough for a sacking?

That did not call for a sacking. The procedure they adopted was ungodly. If she felt offended because of recognition, there is a procedure. She could have called the chapel members and the management body and let them query him and ask why he didn’t recognise the governor’s wife. And then the management body would make their recommendation to the governing council. And the council will then forward their decision to the government. That is the way it should be done. But they didn’t do it.

Whatsoever it is, our own point is that the right procedure was not followed. Government has the right to employ and the right to sack. But if you are now sacking and asking the person to leave within 24 hours, that is too much.

As a church, we are demanding apology from the governor and the government of Lagos State. We demanded that we wanted a Christian governor. We came out en masse and supported the political ambition of Ambode. We told our members to go out and vote for him. Unfortunately, people have started mocking us.


Yes, however, it might not be in the form of query. The church will do its findings over his activities over there and we will forward out findings to the centre. But so far from our findings, we have not found any fault in him. Some of the elders and chapel leaders are also angry over the sacking. They were not informed. He has not done anything to warrant what happened.


https://punchng.com/ambodes-wife-committed-sacrilege-and-should-apologise-african-church-bishop/

The head of the church, His Eminence, Primate Emmanuel Josiah, has written to the governor’s office. He has been asked to book an appointment with the First Lady. We are aware that the letter written to the First Lady is not being attended to; she is not even ready to make herself available.

Ambode incurred God’s wrath by sacking Lagos State Govt House Chaplain



The embattled and outgoing Lagos State Governor, Akinwunmi Ambode, is an emperor. And he is not sorry about it.

Before now, he used his office as governor to deal with many perceived foes in Lagos. And, like a wounded Lion, he pounced on his immediate predecessor, Babatunde Raji Fashola to devour him. If not for the Lord who was on his side, Fashola would have ended up in jail.

When Fashola got enthroned as ‘Prime Minister’ in the Buhari cabinet, Ambode got furious and devoured his friends and associates at home.

In his first week office, he sacked Fashola’s sister, Yinka Fashola, and 18 permanent secretaries. The vindictive governor has terminated the appointments of 33 Permanent Secretaries so far.

He humiliated and sacked George Noah, LASAA MD, Folorunsho Folarin-Coker, Lara Odebunmi, Safety Commission, Foaud Oki among others . He also frustrated many out of government. They include Ganiyu Johnson, Tunde Fowler and many others.

Ambode should have limited his arbitrary use of power to politicians and those in his cabinet but strayed into God’s arena and the Lord struck him.

Ambode sacked and evicted a Chaplain of the Chapel of Christ The Light, Alausa (Government House Chapel) , Rev Femi Taiwo, for not anointing his wife, Bolanle first before other parishioners. The cleric was disgraced and his belongings and family thrown out of government apartment.

It took the intervention of Nigerians especially his parishioners for the man of God to get shelter. I read on a reputable online medium, Complete News, that the clergy was still floating one year after Ambode sacked him



Oluremi Tinubu and Abimbola were first ladies in Lagos and heads didn’t roll in the cathedral. Ihave no doubt that God is avenging the wicked acts of Ambode, particularly the harm he did to his prophet, Rev Femi Taiwo.

The governor has been committing embarrassing gaffes ever since which suggest that the Lord is against him. He started by building needless statues that should have earned him accolades, but which instead brought him reproach.

Lagosians fumed at the Chief Obafemi Awolowo’s statue built by the governor where a cosmopolitan, dandy sage was decked in Agbada with his trademark cap and glasses to match and then a laced safety boots.

Like a man who is under an influence of a spell or forces beyond him, Ambode without consultation with Lagosians and even his party leaders hiked Land Use Charge by over 400 percent!

Lawyers abandoned courts to protest to Alausa over what they tagged, ‘Rejection Of Ambode’s Satanic, Toxic Tax.’ That singular indiscretion dropped his ratings and turned him to a pariah.

To assuage the public anger and revolt that almost consumed his government, Ambode declared 50% discount on LUC as if tax was a telecom promo. That means the hike will be 200 percent.

Would 200 percent tax hike be a sound decision when the country was in a recession? But it was clear that God wanted to end the governor’s reign.

While the Land Use Charge was about to mellow, the waste management crisis escalated and spiralled out of control. The governor had sacked waste managers popularly called PSPs with over 25,000 workers and brought in an acclaimed foreign waste managers for Lagos called Visionscape.

The government guaranteed a N50 billion bond that was raised for the so-called foreign firm to take off. Is that not strange and worrisome? Is it the government that should stand as guarantor for ‘foreign investors’? It means if Visionscape fails, Lagos tax payers will pay the N50bn debt.

Ambode’s visionscape has no vision and capacity for Lagos mega wastes. Without mincing words, Visionscape failed and collapsed when it could not handle the task. Industry experts say Lagos would not recover and get back to a state of relative sanity in the next 10 years.

According to them, on average, Lagos generates 35,000 metric tonnes of wastes a day, if not evacuated in three days, it will accumulate to over 100,000 metric tonnes which could be as high as 2-storey building.

Despite, the hurried beckoning of PSPs to rescue the overwhelmed Visionscape, the backlogs are still warehoused in residents’ compounds across the state particularly in the hinterlands.

Ambode demoralised PSP investors and operators. He was cajoling them while environment degenerated. The governor caused the crisis not the residents or saboteurs. Now, God Almighty has decided to humble Ambode who believed he was untouchable.

Like God did in the Bible days, he just showed Ambode that he ruled in the affairs of men and took his kingdom away from him. The sad end of Ambode is a lesson to every leader who is abusing God’s grace and acting as if the day of reckoning would not come.



https://www.uhurutimes.com/ambode/

deomelo:
https://cdn.punchng.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/30062352/Mrs-Bolanle-Ambode-Ven.-Femi-Taiwo.jpg



The woman still neva repent and beg the man of God for forgiveness

BabaRamota1980:
Deomelo,
Are you not a man of God?

Why do we use the title "man of God" to ascribe a special status to people who are nothing but ordinary like yourself and I?

If clergies are "men of God", what are we, men of satan?

My brother, stop stressing yourself over this Ambode thing.

Listen to the street....the street wants Ambode.

deomelo:
Not my streets, they sure don't want him.

. Wetin the streets dey benefit from useless ambode to start with? Nothing.

BabaRamota1980:
There is a wider scope to consider. I will give a short but philosophical input.

Fire is the element of creativity. Every material is tested through its ability to withstand fire. It will survive or it will die in the process.

Conflict of interest is the fire of politics....it makes some, it disgraces some. Through conflicts those previously viewed as underdog and incapable of toppling the system have, by sheer events of accidental miscalculations, proven to come out of the inferno successful and transforming.


McCain vs Obama, 2008, US Presidential Election.

Election was to hold November 2008. As at August 2008 Obama was far behind in all polls, the institutions did not think he understood enough of the challenges to perform and keep America in global leadership. John McCain was the favorite. John's VP, Sarah Palin had scored some inexcusable blunders but John was seeing as an older and steadying hand and Sarah could be coached under his tutelage.

Then a miracle happened in September! News of Enron mismanagement had cascaded into Financial management and similar patterns was showing in the books on Wall Street. Media blew the whistle!

There was fear! Obama's camp took advantage and articulated what could be done to contain and stop the problem from spreading and collapsing the financial market. McCain side responded. Media got involved and wanted to know from the Presidential candidates what measures they will adopt. You all remeber Keynesian theory? . It became a household name.

While Obama would always be proactive, McCain was reactive and most times missed the figures and how to chart the way forward.

My brother, this shyyte happened in September, by October Obama had overtaken and distanced ahead of McCain in polls, and went on to win.

It was not politics that made Obama President, it was financial breakdown and the lack of knowledge in the opposition. If the opposition knew what to do, or if the media had waited till after election to blow that whistle, McCain, not Obama, would have been President.


So pay attention.....Tinubu is the institution in APC, Ambode is nobody compared...but the conflict of interest could work in his favor after the fact. If it did....Tinubu will never regain his political dominance.

Let me stress this point to you using a different style....

Tinubu has plenty to loose...
Ambode has nothing to loose...


May God continue to look out for you for the good work you put in against ipob and their nonsense.

deomelo:
You lost me for real...

deomelo:
Not my streets, they sure don't want him.

. Wetin the streets dey benefit from useless ambode to start with? Nothing.

BabaRamota1980:
Thats why I said its philosophical. It needs reflection to interprete and understand.

KanwuliaExtra:
Yeye news!
I even thought she was phocking a church member, and expected to see videos of her toto online.

Rubbish!