Members of ‘United Methodist Church, Oshodi‘ chased their pastor away from the church premises for allegedly impregnating his housemaid and aborting it.

The clergyman, Barkuma Andrew is said to be residing with  his wife, children, relatives and a housemaid in a 3 bedroom apartment in the church premises.

According to The punch, members of the church have previously called on ‘the central conference of the church in Taraba state’ to look into the incident.

However the district remained mute on their pleas, so the members nominated another pastor for service.

On Sunday, August 30, 2015 the congregation got to church, only to meet the alleged Barkuma officiating service, which angered the members.

“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.” The new pastor of the church, Reverend James Sunday, said.

Men from the Makinde police division, including the DPO, were said to have intervened after the incident was reported at the station.

Below are witness statements:

“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.” The church secretary 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.” John Komboroh, church member said.

“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.” another member said.

When contacted on the telephone, Andrew said he was in a meeting and promised to get back to The Punch on the incident. He told The Punch Metro that he was still at the meeting when he was called back around 5pm.