This is a brief summary of effort at Uniting the Celestial Church of Christ.

Narrated and Written by Lawyer and Secretary to the CCC Unification & Reform Group:
-Barr. (Ldr.) Dele Ojogbede

Three or four different groups were individually pursuing the  unity of the Celestial Church of Christ. Along the line, all the groups were advised by some elders to merge. This was done and a new group by name Celestial Church of Christ Unification & Reform Group was formed sometimes in 2009. There  are  three leaders appointed for the Group, namely - Baba Oshodi, Baba Wldr. Johnson and Baba Pepe Asebiomo. I am the  first Secretary out of three.

Shortly thereafter, it was resolved that court action might be the best way out to compel all pastoral claimants  to renounce their claim. This is because the Supreme Court had decided in the OWODUNI CASE that there was no validly appointed Pastor for the Church and recommended certain things to be done - uniting the Church and amending the politics with the Church and power game manipulations.      Constitution. Rather than providing the platform for these, the authority in Ketu resorted to playing.

While the case is on going, the present Chief Justice of Lagos State, Justice Philip was the presiding judge. He counseled us and advised that we exploit Settlement/Arbitration option first, failing which,  the case will go through the normal litigation channel. The first Arbitration Day was very successful. The session was presided over by a judge who shared the same initials with our Pastor Founder. Some pastoral claimants were present in person while many others were represented including Ketu faction through their Lawyer. Before commencing proceeding, the judge asked whether those who came in representative capacity had the mandate to commit their principal to whatever decision was reached. They all answered in the affirmative and also endorsed the register. The session sat from about 3.00 pm till 11.00 pm.

However, shortly thereafter and before the D-Day, another lawyer from theLaw Office representing Mobiyina Oshoffa filed some objections to the whole decisions, claiming that their lawyer who endorsed the resolutions did not have the mandate of their own Pastor and the law office to endorse the resolution. That legal spanner thwarted the whole efforts and while the objection was being addressed, the agreed dates passed by without anything of consequence happening. Hence, Arbitration process re - commenced again.  NB - To be continued ......................................

Continuation:

Several other sittings of the Arbitration Panel got the co-operation of all other interested persons except the Mobiyina Oshoffa wing, whose Lawyer stopped coming to the Arbitration Panel since they cannot guarantee the position of their client and the situation was becoming embarrassing to them. At the last sitting about one and a half month ago, the Pastors present agreed to meet outside the Panel to find away out such as may be, agreeing amongst themselves  to step down for one of their own as a way forward and to rally around such fellow to present a common front to tackle the Ketu faction, which is militating against the overall unity of the Church within Nigeria. However, one Pastor Oladokun decided to excuse himself from the others, on the ground that he has a personal pending case against Mobiyina since 2003 on the pastorship contest and he believe so much in his ability to achieve an individual victory in court in that respect.

Nevertheless, the others fixed a venue at Eleko where they subsequently met, though, some such as the Orovboni faction did not attend saying that Eleko was  not a neutral venue, being under the control of Maforikan faction. As such, nothing much was achieved. Subsequently, a much more neutral venue was sought and fortunately, Pastor Owodunni offered his Church premises at Ijeshatedo for hosting the meeting. This was considered a fair venue and all concerned attended the first meeting, including Oladokun. Evang. Peter Zinzu and myself, as Claimants in court equally attended. The meeting was going on smoothly until Papa Owodunni distributed his personal position paper which stated among other things, that he was appointed by our late Pastor Founder in his lifetime, which complied with the expectation of the Church constitution and that, that was a fact and it is only left for the people to accept or reject and further, that all other claimants to the throne claimed to be appointed one way or the other after the founder's death.

At this stage, the meeting became rowdy. Each faction were allowed to present their position. Papa Oladokun stood up and decided to opt out of the meeting saying that Papa Owodunni was campaigning for his posotion as a Pastor rather than mediating, claiming that he too has his own evidence of appointment and that he would prefer to fight his case in court. Hence, he left the meeting. Many other people, including Papa Shonekan and Adetunji expressed disappointment at the turn of event, claiming that rather than campaigning, Owodunni as the most elderly ought to have piloted the meeting towards achieving a consensus. At the end, Peter and myself individually addressed the meeting appealing to all to allow the spirit of God to prevail and to suppress their individual goal and to pursue the greater goal of moving the Church forward.

Subsequently, it was agreed to adjourn the meeting forward to allow temper to cool down. At the adjourned date, all present deliberated like before but no consensus was reached, as each individual was still holding tightly to their respective positions.

In the  light of the above developments, we, the Claimants have briefed the Arbitration Panel in  advance that no consensus could be reached among all the pastoral claimants and as such, a date would be required to inform all members that due to the failure of Arbitration to effect Settlement among the disputants, the matter would be referred back to the normal court for trial.

At the normal court, what we intend to achieve is to show that there is no Pastor in CCC as at today in the light of the Church's unadulterated Constitution and the Supreme Court judgment in the Owodunni case and as such all the pretenders to the throne should remove their garment(s) through the force of the law. The police are already waiting for an order of court in that respect to be able to swing into action. In addition, there would be an injunction restraining anybody from parading himself as pastor until the recommendation of the Supreme Court in the Owodunni case has been complied with, to wit. unite the church and then properly amend the constitution. Not the stage-managed one effected by the Ketu faction, singlehandedly to suite their purpose.

May our Lord Jesus Christ unite His Church and show His anointed Pastor to the world through signs and wonders as He did through our most revered Pastor/Founder, S.B.J. Oshoffa.

Further updates shall be supplied in due course.

Barr. (Ldr.) Dele Ojogbede

Secretary, CCC Unification & Reform Group

COMMENT

Pastor Mobiyino Oshoffa said, I quote "If it comes to removing  my garment I will not. I will rather change the name of the Church." It is unfortunate.