The Assemblies of God church Nigeria has denied we the minor pastor’s
widow’s our right to our husband’s gratuity; I am writing this article
because I am affected by their decision to deny us our gratuity: Rev Mrs
Gladness.
I am angry with the turnout of events with the church; I lost my husband last year and since then till this moment all efforts to secure my husband’s gratuity have been hitting rocks. I have six children I cater for and they are still schooling, the general council did not make any provision for the welfare of their pastors widows/children like other churches do yet when we make demands for what our husbands were able to save from the little stipends they were paid, instead of listening to us and give us our rights they abuse us and humiliate us.
We were asked to come to Okpoto to collect forms to fill since the district superintendent belong to a faction, we travelled from the north to Okpoto to get this forms and we went to the presbyters to sign them and we returned them to Okpoto using the little cash we were supposed to use for feeding to run around and after all the stressful movements here and there all they do is promises upon promises. I went back to Evangel camp Okpoto to know what the next plan is since all the numbers given to me were never reachable, on arriving their the people working in pensions office ridiculed and made mockery of me and told me they will call me whenever they are ready for me that I should stop disturbing them over my own right.
I made every effort to see Rev Chidi Okoroafor but his personal assistant rebuffed me, I was later directed to the general treasurer whose P.A didn’t give me a listening ear. I got to the general secretary’s office where the staff there told me that there is no hope of me getting my husband’s gratuity in the nearest future on the claims that none of the officials ever come to office, that they were around that week because they had meeting and wedding of the GS daughter.
This issue affects only the widows from the minority group (small churches) as I was told by an official in the Evangel camp temporal secretariat. I can’t waste my time pleading with anyone on this issue anymore. I have contacted my brother who is a barrister on this matter and anytime from now we will be heading to the tribunal since that’s what they want we will go that way.
Speaking with the widow’s son he said:
I was born and bred in Assemblies of God church of Nigeria, from Umuahia district where my father started his pastoral call after graduating from AGDSN Umuahia and was later transferred to northern Nigeria on inter-state transfer.
He was one of the minor pastors who served as missionary pastors and suffered grossly for the calling, we the children suffered the consequences of his decision to be a pastor; I wouldn’t want to mention the hard times and setbacks we encountered in every sphere of life.
My father was paid six thousand naira to cater for his family of six children, himself and our mother. From this six thousand naira the district claims some ration as tithe and other deductions too that they claim to be burial funds and the rest of them thereby leaving my father with nothing at the end of the day. These cases apply to all other minor pastors too who found themselves in the same situation.
The issue is not that my father was underpaid, I have no business with that but the fact that they which claimed to be holy and spiritual leaders lie to us every day while they loot the church money amongst themselves, I won’t mention names but any reasonable member of the church knows that the crisis that erupted was as a result of the discovery of mismanaged funds and looting the suspended general superintendent Paul Emeka discovered in the system that made them call for his immediate termination and removal; like I said before, its none of my business what they do with the church money, my concern is the powers that be refusing to pay the families of the pastors that lost their lives in service which my family was among. We don’t get pension in cases of death and the church has no support plans for their deceased pastor’s family yet the little our fathers contribute to their account they refuse to pay us claiming there is no money. Some families had applied for their gratuity since 2013 and 2014 till date nothing has been done about it, the powers that be paid deaf ears.
No one should misunderstand me, I do not belong or support any faction; in fact I left the church long time ago. My reason for voicing out is that they have denied us our right, our father’s gratuity and tend to abuse us and make jest of us whenever we go to Okpoto to make demands for this entitlement. Traveling from Lagos, Port Harcourt to Ebonyi state is not cheap and the risk of plying the road put together they never one day considered.
We have made up my mind to sue the general council if they refuse to pay us our money within a given period of time best known to us, we might join forces with other affected families for this fight; as I write we have made all necessary arrangements to head to the tribunal because enough has got to be enough. I have made all efforts to reach the powers that be but they all proved futile, I know they read all my mails and messages to them both on facebook, phone and emails, they also get my messages from their relatives, friends and P.A’s and none of them will blame me for taking any actions negative or positive to get what belongs to me.
I am angry with the turnout of events with the church; I lost my husband last year and since then till this moment all efforts to secure my husband’s gratuity have been hitting rocks. I have six children I cater for and they are still schooling, the general council did not make any provision for the welfare of their pastors widows/children like other churches do yet when we make demands for what our husbands were able to save from the little stipends they were paid, instead of listening to us and give us our rights they abuse us and humiliate us.
We were asked to come to Okpoto to collect forms to fill since the district superintendent belong to a faction, we travelled from the north to Okpoto to get this forms and we went to the presbyters to sign them and we returned them to Okpoto using the little cash we were supposed to use for feeding to run around and after all the stressful movements here and there all they do is promises upon promises. I went back to Evangel camp Okpoto to know what the next plan is since all the numbers given to me were never reachable, on arriving their the people working in pensions office ridiculed and made mockery of me and told me they will call me whenever they are ready for me that I should stop disturbing them over my own right.
I made every effort to see Rev Chidi Okoroafor but his personal assistant rebuffed me, I was later directed to the general treasurer whose P.A didn’t give me a listening ear. I got to the general secretary’s office where the staff there told me that there is no hope of me getting my husband’s gratuity in the nearest future on the claims that none of the officials ever come to office, that they were around that week because they had meeting and wedding of the GS daughter.
This issue affects only the widows from the minority group (small churches) as I was told by an official in the Evangel camp temporal secretariat. I can’t waste my time pleading with anyone on this issue anymore. I have contacted my brother who is a barrister on this matter and anytime from now we will be heading to the tribunal since that’s what they want we will go that way.
Speaking with the widow’s son he said:
I was born and bred in Assemblies of God church of Nigeria, from Umuahia district where my father started his pastoral call after graduating from AGDSN Umuahia and was later transferred to northern Nigeria on inter-state transfer.
He was one of the minor pastors who served as missionary pastors and suffered grossly for the calling, we the children suffered the consequences of his decision to be a pastor; I wouldn’t want to mention the hard times and setbacks we encountered in every sphere of life.
My father was paid six thousand naira to cater for his family of six children, himself and our mother. From this six thousand naira the district claims some ration as tithe and other deductions too that they claim to be burial funds and the rest of them thereby leaving my father with nothing at the end of the day. These cases apply to all other minor pastors too who found themselves in the same situation.
The issue is not that my father was underpaid, I have no business with that but the fact that they which claimed to be holy and spiritual leaders lie to us every day while they loot the church money amongst themselves, I won’t mention names but any reasonable member of the church knows that the crisis that erupted was as a result of the discovery of mismanaged funds and looting the suspended general superintendent Paul Emeka discovered in the system that made them call for his immediate termination and removal; like I said before, its none of my business what they do with the church money, my concern is the powers that be refusing to pay the families of the pastors that lost their lives in service which my family was among. We don’t get pension in cases of death and the church has no support plans for their deceased pastor’s family yet the little our fathers contribute to their account they refuse to pay us claiming there is no money. Some families had applied for their gratuity since 2013 and 2014 till date nothing has been done about it, the powers that be paid deaf ears.
No one should misunderstand me, I do not belong or support any faction; in fact I left the church long time ago. My reason for voicing out is that they have denied us our right, our father’s gratuity and tend to abuse us and make jest of us whenever we go to Okpoto to make demands for this entitlement. Traveling from Lagos, Port Harcourt to Ebonyi state is not cheap and the risk of plying the road put together they never one day considered.
We have made up my mind to sue the general council if they refuse to pay us our money within a given period of time best known to us, we might join forces with other affected families for this fight; as I write we have made all necessary arrangements to head to the tribunal because enough has got to be enough. I have made all efforts to reach the powers that be but they all proved futile, I know they read all my mails and messages to them both on facebook, phone and emails, they also get my messages from their relatives, friends and P.A’s and none of them will blame me for taking any actions negative or positive to get what belongs to me.
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