A Nigerian Church in New York whose name was given as Celestial Church of Christ (Staten-Island Parish, in New-York City Parish), have been shut down by the New York Police after the church leadership fought over allegations of sexual harassment and embezzlement.
Nigerian media personality Oluwakayode Olumide Ogundamisi, who shared a video of the church members being forced to leave, wrote;
Watch crisis in Nigerian Celestial Church of Christ in “the abroad.” (Staten-Island Parish, in New-York City Parish.) New York Police had to come in to restore peace
Here is the video below;
Recall also that after aggrieved members of the Ajegunle Baptist Church, Agbowo, Ibadan locked out the church pastor and other members on Sunday over allegations that the pastor was embezzling funds and abusing his office few months ago.
The aggrieved members under the umbrella of “Concerned Members”, accused the church pastor, Reverend Oyewole Oyekan of running the financial affairs of the church alone and keeping over N4 million belonging to the church in his personal account.
“Our pastor has turned himself to the treasurer and financial secretary of the church, whereas we employed him. He spends our money singlehandedly without getting clearance from the financial secretary or church council, Spokesman for the concerned members, Sangolade Olufemi told Nigerian Tribune.
“We reported him to the association, conference; all they were doing was to appeal to us to give peace a chance. We have proved it beyond reasonable ground and we want him to leave our church.”
In response, Oyekan described the allegations leveled against him as false. He held that he has not been formally indicted by the auditor, financial secretary, treasurer or church in council on the allegations of embezzlement.
The pastor insisted that the Baptist convention has not fired him and has told the aggrieved members to let peace reign but they refused.
