From Marlvin-James Dadzie, Takoradi
Leadership of the Resurrection Power and Living Bread (REPLIB) Ministries International Church has urged its members and the entire public to disregard recent audio recording being circulated on social media seeking to denigrate the sacred image of the church.
According to the church, the recording is a calculated attempt by two former members of the church to soil its holy image and bring it into disrepute.
Speaking to journalists in Takoradi, the Eastern Regional Overseer of REPLIP, Bishop Nana Bugyei, popularly known as Onyame Akoa Kwame Nti, said the two former members – one Isaac Manu, a Former Regional Administrator of the Church for Western Region, and Apostle Paul Anane, a Former Western Regional Overseer had teamed up and were allegedly behind such a devilish scheme.
In the said audio recording, Manu is allegedly heard accusing the leaders of the church of embezzling church funds and making unprintable comments about the highly respected General Overseer of the church, Arch-bishop Akwesi Asare Bediako.
Similar allegations were made by the two in 2019 which were carried by some traditional media outlets though the two had since left the church and formed their own church in Takoradi.
But, reacting to the new development, Onyame Akoa stated that the allegations on the audio recording were blatant falsehood and that the two former members after leaving the church, had publicly vowed to do whatever it takes to cause mayhem in the church and bring it down on its kneels.
“So we’re not surprise that such allegations are being thrown about just to cause contention and collapse the church”, he said.
Onyame Akoa who was once the Regional Overseer of the church in Western Region, narrated the genesis of the whole story, saying that during his tenure in the Western Region, he managed to retrieve some church properties (warehouses) from private hands after a protracted court litigation.
He said he subsequently set up a Regional Building and Property Committee to manage the property by giving it out for rent and rendering account to the church periodically.
However, he said, he was reassigned from the Western Region in 2014 and Apostle Paul Anane took over from him.
Unfortunately, he said upon assuming office, Apostle Anane dissolved the Building and Property Committee and took personal charge of the management and finances of the warehouses without rendering account to the church.
This situation, he said, brewed tension in the church and caused a lot of confusion, forcing the church’s General Overseer, Arch-bishop Akwesi Asare Bediako, to intervene in the matter and called for a new committee to be set up.
He said a new five-member Building and Property Committee was set up in late 2017 with four of its members appointed by Apostle Anane and one by the Arch-bishop.
Surprisingly, he said, Apostle Anane again, allegedly by-passed the new committee, collected rent on the property and squandered the money.
The respected Arch-bishop upon realizing this, he said, recalled Apostle Anane to the church’s headquarters in Accra but the latter refused and stayed in Takoradi, forming a group of agitators who kept causing confusion in the church.
In May 2019, he said, the Arch-bishop was left with no other option than to sack Apostle Anane from the church for disrespecting his directives and being a threat to the peace and smooth running of the church.
Few months prior to Anane’s dismissal, Manu, who had been Anane’s co-conspirator all this while, resigned from the church after realizing that the church may take serious actions against him.
He said since their departure from REPLIB, the two had formed their own church but were bent on destroying REPLIB, stating that as a result, some members of REPLIB have defected to join the new church while Anane and Manu continue to stir controversies and confusion in REPLIB’s branches across the globe especially, its Kotobabi branch in Accra where Anane once served as head pastor.
“But, we’re not perturbed by these machinations. We will continue to let our members and the general public know the truth. The church will always stand for what is right”, he said.
The Acting Western Regional Administrator for REPLIB, Rev. Patrick Essandoh Baidoo, who corroborated the assertions made by Onyame Akoa, emphasized that the church would not tolerate wrongdoing and entreated members to remain truthful and dedicated to its teachings.
Meanwhile, the highly respected, calm and affable General Overseer of the church, Arch-bishop Akwesi Asare Bediako, has taken the recent skirmishes in the church with ease and continues to run the church to the admiration of all.
