One of the leaders of the Christian Charismatic Ministries, Mr. Innocent Nwangwu, has told an Enugu Magistrate Court that the General Overseer (GO), Pastor Sabinus Onuigbo, forged documents to change the church’s Board of Trustees after he was suspended for alleged misconduct.
Onuigbo, the General Overseer of the Christian Charismatic Ministries, is facing trial before the magistrates court for alleged forgery.
The GO and five senior pastors of the church – Tony Chukwu, Chukwuma Orji, Nick Nwoye and Tony Ike – were accused of conspiring to commit forgery, an offence punishable under Section 495 (a) of the Criminal Code, cap. 30, Vol. 11, Laws of Enugu State of Nigeria 2004.
According to the charge sheet in the suit numbered CME/56C/2017, Onuigbo and the other accused persons, on or about July 16, 2014, and August 10, 2014, allegedly used forged documents to apply to the Corporate Affairs Commission to change the trustees of the church.
Testifying during the continuation of hearing in the case, Nwangwu disclosed that Onuigbo and the other accused persons moved to change the church’s trustees after he (Onuigbo) was suspended by the elders of the church over allegations of misconduct.
According to him, after investigating the allegations levelled against the GO, the elders of the church, at a meeting in March, 2014, in Enugu, decided to suspend Onuigbo, having found him guilty of the said offences.
However, the witness stated that Onuigbo and the other accused persons opposed the suspension, and as a result, opted to alter the church’s trustees in order to nullify the decision of the elders.
He added that the General Overseer and his group also moved to “deal” with those who supported his suspension.
Nwangwu stated, “Immediately the General Overseer was suspended, he planned with the other accused persons to deal with their perceived enemies – those that supported the suspension.
“In July 2014, an acting general overseer was appointed by the elders but the accused persons moved to reconstitute the Board of Trustees, and they held a meeting where they purported to change the membership of the BOT.
“By September 2014, they got the purported certificate of the forged BOT, and after that, they planned to expel all those they perceived as their enemies.”
Nwangwu said he discovered that documents forwarded by the accused persons to the CAC to effect the change in the church’s trustees were forged after the GO used the police to “force out” the church’s regional pastor in Jalingo, Taraba State.
He added, “After they forced out the regional pastor in Jalingo, the police called me saying the accused persons gave them two different certificates of BoT with my name on both certificates.
“They asked me to explain how that came about. I said I didn’t know about the second certificate.”
