Members of the United
Methodist Church, Mafoluku, Oshodi area of Lagos have chased away their pastor
for allegedly impregnating his housemaid.
It was learnt that the Pastor
Barkuma Andrew, who had lived with his wife, children, wife’s cousin,
Favour, and Grace (the house maid) in a
three-bedroom flat on the church premises before the incident.
A
member of the church and a former secretary to Andrew, Moses Sherima, said that
the pastor sent his wife to her village after he impregnated Grace.
He
said:
“My room is opposite pastor’s
apartment and I was his secretary. When he started dating that girl (Grace), I
called his wife’s cousin, Favour, on the matter. She said Grace used to tell
her whenever the pastor had sex with her.
“At a point, I had to move upstairs
when I could no longer bear it. The day that abortion happened, I was sleeping
inside my room when I heard Grace screaming. I rushed there and saw blood
coming out from her private parts. When the wife came back from one of her
numerous journeys, he told her to send Favour away.”
Another
church member, John Komboroh, said the church was embarrassed by Andrew’s
conduct, adding that they were tired of his leadership.
He
said:
“The petition of adultery against
the pastor had been sent to the bishop at the Central Conference. He came here,
but did not do anything about it. That was why we wrote to the main body, the
Southern Conference to give us another pastor. His (Andrew’s) action is an
embarrassment to us. We don’t want him again.”
The
new pastor of the church, Reverend James Sunday, said,:
“We were about to start our service
this morning when we met the old pastor and some unknown people already holding
the service. I calmed down my people to avoid chaos.”
Another
resident and a female member, who identified herself only as Blessing, said the
pastor had once made sexual advances to her.
“My husband is not always at home.
The pastor would call me in the night and asked if I had slept. One day he
entered my room and gave me a soft slap on my back. I had only the wrapper on
me.
“I was surprised and told my
neighbours.”
Punch
