There is a bit of resentment circulating around the members of the Chapel of Christ the Light, Alausa Lagos State, after the Presiding Chaplain, Venerable Femi Taiwo, was sacked by the Governing Council allegedly on the order of the state Governor, Akinwunmi Ambode.
The presiding Chaplain had been dismissed without any official reason stated in the official document stated in the sack letter, The Punch reports.
He was said to have been ordered out of his official quarters where he lived with his wife and two children within 24 hours of receiving the letter.
Despite pleadings from church leaders and other reputable elders in the church, the government was said to have insisted that the cleric must leave the church.
The travails of the sacked chaplain started when he didn’t anoint the First Lady of the state on time, causing her to storm out of the church in anger.
The women leaders of the church, including the chaplain’s wife, were said to have begged her but she shunned all entreaties and left with her entourage.
The cleric got the sack the following day.
The directive was issued in a letter dated, May 15, 2017, and signed by the Chairman, Governing Council of CCTL, Mr Olugbenga Solomon. The letter also ordered the Assistant Chaplain, Very Rev. Ayo Oyadotun, to take over with immediate effect.
An anonymous source, according to The PUNCH, confirmed the incident saying that the reason Taiwo got the sack was not stated in the letter, adding that the action was not unconnected from the visit of the wife of the governor.
He said, “Let me be straight with you, in the letter there was no reason for the sack. Whatever you are hearing are what members of the church believed could have happened. And there was indeed a protest by the church and the governing council assuaged them on the sacking.
“There was nothing official in that sacking. No investigation, no query, nothing. We had an anointing service on that Sunday. The following day, the venerable was served the sack letter.”
The state Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Steve Ayorinde, said, “The former chaplain had been queried a number of times in the past for conducts unbecoming of his office. The culmination of various indiscretions led to the Governing Council of the church issuing yet another query that led to his being relieved of his post, The PUNCH reports.
“This has got nothing to do with the First Lady. The Chaplain is looking for an excuse to cover his insouciance. It’s nothing but cheap blackmail.”