Date published: February 5, 2014
From Samuel Agbewode, Tadzewu
A group calling itself the Concerned Youth of Tadzewu says the youth of the town can no longer tolerate the frequent violent that normally breaks out as a result of the division in the Apostles Revelation Society (ARS) Church, since the death of the Founder, Prophet C.K. N Wovenu.
They have, therefore, appealed to the leadership of the Church to settle their leadership differences.
Addressing a press conference at Tadzewu in the Ketu-North District, the headquarters of the ARS Church, the General Secretary of the Concerned Youth of Tadzewu, Mr. Michael Avornyo, pointed out that the late founder of the ARS Church was freely given large tracks of land belonging to the indigenes to establish the church, which also led to the community benefiting from schools established by the church and other social amenities.
Mr. Avornyo said the church, which lived peacefully with the community until it started fomenting trouble with itself and sometimes the community. He noted that the Tadzewu community had witnessed a series of demonstrations and counter demonstrations, involving the two main factions of the church, who are struggling to assume leadership position.
During these clashes, some of the church members are attacked with machetes, in addition to the vandalization of houses and shops in the town.
Mr. Avornyo alleged that in most of the cases church members who are involved in the violence are not arrested by the police because of their political links.
This lack of action on the part of the police has emboldened them to perpetuate more violence against their opponents in the town.
The latest violence, he noted, occurred on January 10, 2014, where a faction in the church attacked their office personnel, and vandalized church property including computers and food stuff among others, before setting the building housing these items ablaze.
Avornyo noted that the latest violence was the worst witnessed by the community in a decade and warned that if nothing was done to bring the situation under control, the development of the community would be retarded.
‘We do not want to say who is wrong or who is right – all we are concerned with is the negative impact of these developments on our town, Tadzewu.
We, therefore, condemn in no uncertain terms the barbaric and primitive acts of violence engaged in by organizers and perpetrators from the ARS factions,’ he said.
Mr. Avornyo warned that it would be wrong for the authorities to sit aloof, thinking that the issue had to do with religion, when in fact; it is affecting the forward march of the community.
He said the entire community expects that justice would not be compromised, as the law would be rigorously applied without favour or discrimination to serve as a deterrent to others, emphasizing that it was only through justice that a strong signal would be sent to the people involved in the violence.
The Tadzewu Concerned Youth Secretary commended the national security apparatus, especially the police, for the manner they have handled developments going on in the Tadzewu town.
Mr. Avornyo appealed to the leadership of the factions in the Church to restrain their members, as well as to advise them not to take the law into their hands.
‘After all, Jesus Christ, our Lord and savior, was himself the Prince of Peace and as a church there is the need not to depart from the teachings of Christ, the foundation upon which the church was built’.
Leave a comment. 0 comment so far.