Chairman of the Pastoral Council of Divine Healer’s Church, and five Pastors of the Church have dragged its General Overseer and four other executives to court over their continuous stay in office despite the expiration of their terms.
A suit filed by Apostle Daniel Mensah Attakpah and five others avers that Isaac Kwabena Adade and the defendants have failed to vacate their positions for fresh elections to be held in blatant disregard for the constitution of the Church.
The plaintiffs argue that the General Overseer and his cohorts have exhausted their two-term tenures and he is above the 65 years age limit set by the Church’s constitution but have remained in same positions since 2016 based solely on what they describe as a ‘prophecy’ by the General Overseer.
The plaintiffs also alleged that the defendants have also hired an Accra-based lawyer to amend the Church’s constitution to enable them stay in their positions beyond the year and terms prescribed be the constitution.
The plaintiffs are Apostle Attakpah, Rev. Philip Attakpah, Johannies Ollennu, Rev. Jonathan Nyabu, Solomon Amenyo and Ebenezer Nartey while the defendants are the Registered Trustees of the Church, Apostle Adade, Maxwell Aryeetey Foster, Kenneth Ashaley Addo, Emmanuel Acquaye and Dora Edith Osekre.
The plaintiffs argue that the continuous stay in office by Apostle Adade is unconstitutional, arbitrary and amounts to an attempt by him to remain in office as a life General Overseer and member of the National Executive Board.
They aver that Apostle Adade claims the Holy Spirit has revealed through prophecies that he and his team should remain in office and the defendants have “succeeded in remaining in their positions indefinitely by spiritual subterfuge in the name of purported prophecies.”
It is the case of the plaintiffs that the person behind the prophecies and the place of the prophecies are unknown to members of the Church except the General Overseer and his team and any attempt to challenge the prophecy would be considered a lack of religious faith in God and an abominable act.
They also aver that the plaintiffs have become vindictive and expel any member who makes a reference to the constitution and they only make a reference to the constitution when it suits them.
They are asking the court to stop the second to fifth defendants from amending the Church’s constitution to abolish the term and age limits in order to remain in office indefinitely.
They are therefore, asking for an order to declare their continuous stay in office us unconstitutional, order the Registered Trustees to organise elections for the appointment of qualified members.
They are also asking for an order directing the old executives to render audited accounts to the new executives. They are also asking for general damages and costs.
BY Gibril Abdul Razak