By Our Correspomdent
The crisis which rocked the Sapele Diocese of the Anglican Communion (Church of Nigeria) has taken a new dimension with the youth of the church on Friday September 4th 2015, staging another protest along palmer road Sapele, adjacent the main Cathedral at the Bishops cort, alleging that the Bishop Rt. (Rev) B.A. Erifeta (JP) through his accountants has falsified the dioceses accounts to cover up his tracks before the arrival of their primate.
The youths who stormed the premises of the Bishop with placards which bow the inscriptions This is your quit notice Erifeta stop changing financial figures, leave our finance alone, cashier dont falsify our financial records, Erifeta do not touch our money, Erifeta stop falsification of Accounts, Diocesan reasurer dont Connive!!! Jail is real, stop manipulating financial records, God is watching!!!
Treasurer, Accountants, Cashier and Auditor stay clear, said they will not stop their protest not until Bishop Erifeta leaves the Diocese for the church of God to move forward.
The leader of the youths who lead the protest of the day, Mr. Clinton Gbragada, the youth president of St. Lukes Cathedral Boyo road Sapele, while addressing journalists said, they just got the information that the Bishop is falsifying the Accounts to protect himself from his alleged financial recklessness, which is why they are acting promoting to stop him forth with and as well tell the public that he is a fraud star who after duping the Church, now goes about altering figures in the Church financial records to cover up his stolen cash while turning the Church to his personal business.
He remarked that the Anglican Church as it were, is not a one mans Church as it is presently here in Sapele, explaining that the story is not the same within other diocese across the country and they will resist this with their last drop of blood since they were born and breed up in the church noting that what is happening now is not what they were thought.
He said after they become their own diocese six years ago, they thought things will change, rather they have moved from grace to grass as they has suffered untold hardship over the years under Bishop Erifetas authoritarian Leadership who has turned the church to his personal farm land and business outfit where he controls the resource at will without challenge from any quarter while dealing with those who dare to challenge him with transfer to remote and dry places.
He maintained that due to the attitude of the Bishop, members of the St. Lukes Cathedral that was at about 3000 worshippers every Sunday service has now reduced to 200 with all the members going to Pentecostal and other orthodox churches in protest of the Bishops maladministration, insult to elders incessant trips abroad, flamboyant living with the purchase of exotic vehicles at the expense of the diocese, intimidation to members and non members alike, etc.
Mr. Gbragada explained further that their fears has reached a feverish height where one day one man will come and asked them to evacuate the Cathedral that the Bishop has used the church as a collateral for a loan as in the case of their school which he was alleged to have used as a collateral for a loan with which he used in purchasing one of his exotic vehicles, hence they are guiding against anything that will remove them from the church of God.
Meanwhile, the Church has written a letter to the primate for him to come down to Sapele to settle the crisis before it engulfed the entire diocese which has joined in the process for the Bishop to go, while Archbishop of the Bendel Province on his own has made several attempts at settling the crisis, yet members of the diocese are insisting that the primate must come down to Sapele before the crisis could be over.
An anonymous member of the church, who spoke to our reporter, said Enough is enough; Blessing Erifeta should be ashamed of himself by now. The Bishop seat is not a do or die affair. He should stop falsifying financial records. I dont know what he hopes to achieve, because God is watching. I expect him to follow the path of honor and throw in the towel. He should resign honorably. We, his kinsmen are ashamed. Please, resign so that the church can move forward.
The embattled Bishop at the centre of the crisis could not be reached before filing this report but his publicity secretary Mr. Churchill Akure in a press briefing in Warri recently, said the church has a bad record and as well notorious for doing bad things which he the Bishop has a man of God is trying to correct.
