A former spokesman of the presidential campaign organisation of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Daniel Bwala has condemned the enforced retirement of two pastors by the Living Faith Church (Winners Chapel).
It was gathered that the two deputies of Bishop David Oyedepo will step down from their positions after serving the ministry for over 30 and 40 years, respectively, after which a valedictory service will be held.
Bwala in a post on his official X account on Friday morning condemned the enforced retirement of the duo of pastors David Abioye and Thomas Aremu who will be officially leaving their posts next week.
“The forced retirement of men of God is repugnant to both natural and spiritual justice, equity and good conscience. The church is not an enterprise governed by worldly bureaucracy,” Bwala wrote.
“These retired men are absolutely loyal; they have energy, insights, health and foresight. They sacrificed their lives in loyalty for service.
“This unfortunate precedence might question the reciprocal loyalty of presidents and founders of churches to any pastor who serves under them and consequently open the floodgate of proliferation of churches. Not a good precedence by every standard.”
According to Church Times, the retirement is in line with the Church’s constitution, which recently amended the retirement age from 60 to 55.
According to the church manual, only the church’s founder, Bishop Oyedepo, is allowed to serve beyond this new age limit, with future leaders permitted to serve one or two terms of seven years each, subject to the Board of Trustees’ approval.
“We have heard that Bishop Abioye and the other Bishop Aremu in Ibadan will leave during the Bishop Oyedepo birthday celebration. That is the new law in the church; only Bishop Oyedepo can remain in his position for life.
“One of the two bishops has even been considering leaving for a while, so this is not news to some of us in the church,” a member of the church revealed in a The Punch report.
A valedictory service will be held for the two bishops at their respective churches.
Bishop Abioye’s farewell service is set for Friday, October 18, 2024, in Durumi, Abuja, while Bishop Aremu’s service will take place at LFC Basorun in Ibadan, Oyo State on Tuesday, October 15, 2024.
Bishop Abioye, currently the Senior Pastor of Living Faith Church, Goshen City, Abuja, first met Bishop Oyedepo in 1979.
He led one of the church’s five pioneer branches in 1987 and was consecrated in 1993 at the age of 32. Abioye is currently 63 while Aremu is 67.
