By our reporter
A resident pastor of Living Faith Church (a.k,a) Winners Chapel in Calabar South LGA of Cross River State, Pastor Dominion Esang, has filed a suit against the church at the National Industrial Court of Nigeria Calabar Judicial Division, for unlawful termination of his appointment from the ministry without following due process.
Pastor Dominion Esang untill the termination of his appointment, was pastor at Palm Street extension Parish, studied Maths Statistics at the University of Calabar, now preacher of the gospel of Christ, stressed that though there was nothing wrong with laying him off especially if his services were not needed by the ministry any longer said that what angered him most is the fact that his persecutors failed to follow the Mandate/operational manual used by the ministry to fire erring staff.
In suit No: NICN/CA/25/2022 between pastor Dominion Esang (claimant ) and Founder of Living Faith Church World Wide Incorporated, Bishop David Oyedepo,Adebisi Aboluwade, and other two defendants, the dismissed pastor stated that he is in court to let his father in the lord (Papa Oyedepo) who may not have known how he had been maltreated by fellow pastors without due process being followed.
Pastor Dominion averred that effort to let the General Overseer of the ministry, Dr David Oyedepo wade into the matter was highly frustrated by the cabals.
In his words; “I was a member of that church for over a decade before training to become a pastor. At least I have spent more than two decades in the Ministry, that alone makes me a son to our general Overseer GO, Bishop David Oyedepo.
He said that he is also an area pastor with sixteen branches of the church in Calabar South under his supervision averred that he was unlawfully thrown out from the ministry by a cabal made up of one Pastor Tamunotoye Chukunda and the state pastor LFCWW Cross River State pastor Adeolu Adewumi.
“According to the Living Faith’s operational mandate, before a pastor is sacked,such a pastor would first of all be queried with a letter and made to appear before a disciplinary committee to answer some petinent questions and thereafter be issued with three warnings before he can be issued a termination of appointment letter,in my case nothing of such happened.
“Apart from the query that was issued followed immediately with this sacked letter without availing me opportunity to appear before any disciplinary panel.
“The Cabals headed by Pastor Adeolu and Pastor Chukunda connieved and got me got kicked out without following due process.
” The mandate book serve like a constitution of the organization unfortunately it was never followed, probably because they didn’t like my face.
“Both of them cannot claim to be more of Bishop Oyedepo’s God sons than myself,we are all his children in the lord. No query letter was serve to me. The only letter given to me by the Cabals was a sacked letter and for a year now my salary had been stopped.
“As I speak to you can’t even pay my children school fees nor pay my rent, or afford food, clothings and medicine for my kids.” Esang lamented.
The dismissed pastor who said he had been a two times counselor in one of the council wards in Apapa area of Lagos state before being appointed as chief of staff to Speaker of Cross River State House of Assembly but quits the appointment so as to be fully committed to the work of God stressed that the N350m damages would help him take care of medical bills, settle children school fees, house rent and general upkeep, giving the fact that his salary was stopped about a year ago when he was thrown out of job by his persecutors.
Investigation by our Correspondent however revealled that case comes up for hearing on October 25, 2022 at National industrial court Calabar.
In his reaction to the issue on a telephone discussion in Calabar, the state administrative officer, Living Faith Church World Wide, Cross River State,Den Taiwo denied the allegations levelled against Dr. David Oyedepo’s ministry stressing that no section of the operational mandate was violated.
Taiwo maintained that due process was followed by authority of the church before sending the dismissed pastor away.
“Queried was served him because of the way he was misbehaving. We are a responsible organization,we couldn’t have Sacked a man of God in the manner which he claimed.
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