Nobody Can Close My Church – Rev. Obofuor Dares Gov’t

Founder of the Anointed Place Chapel (APC), Francis Antwi, has denied media reports suggesting that his macho men have attacked some officials of the Tema West Municipal Assembly.

He said anybody moving from one media house to the other with allegations of assault is a liar.

According to the man of God, popularly known as Rev. Obofuor, the Tema West Municipal Assembly official who came to his facility on Monday came on a mission and with an agenda he insists they cannot accomplish.

Denials

“You [the Assembly Officials] came there on a mission you can’t accomplish, dare me, I am not a coward” Rev. Obofuor  said on a social media page that has so far attracted 3,285 views as at press time yesterday.

He warned: “APC church is for God, No one can close it”

Rev. Obofuor while denying the accusations wondered how three skinny security men at the church could beat up a 23 member delegation from the Assembly.

He stated that he is a law-abiding citizen who would not breach the law daring the Assembly officials to produce the letter they claimed they brought to his church and there was no one to receive.

The APC Founder retorted: “push me and I will speak to the nation…when you need jobs after school, you come to church for us to pray for you; when you have bad dreams, we pray for you, yet when you are free, you become proud.”

Attacks

Reports suggests five persons and other members of the church pounced on the officials when they visited the Tema branch of the church on a routine exercise to inspect their building permit.

The Head of the Local Government Service, Nana Ato Arthur is quoted as having told Citi FM that “They got to the Anointed Palace Chapel at about 11:30am and as a normal practice, the Head of Works requested for their building permit documents, which they failed to produce. The head of works had previously issued four summons to the church but the leadership of the church never showed up,” he said.

According to Nana Ato Arthur, the taskforce was further instructed to write on the Church walls following their failure to produce the permit but the Church members attacked them with sticks and cutlasses when they began to undertake the exercise.

“He [Head of Works] further instructed the taskforce to write on their portion of the wall as usual, to produce permit. Just when they moved to carry on, some youth of the church pounced on them and started beating them with sticks, metal strips, cutlasses and smashing the vehicles of the Engineer, the Municipal Finance Officer and the rest of the taskforce.”

A police complaint was later made by the Assembly to the Sakumono Police Station who took up the matter and arrested the five suspects.

No Permit

Meanwhile, the Tema Development Corporation says it has not issued any lease or permit to the church.

According to the corporation, the land on which the church is situated has been declared a flood-prone area, rendering it unsuitable for residential or commercial activities.

Speaking to Citi News, Protocol and Administration officer of TDC, Ian Oquaye said, although the corporation tried to stop the church from being built, it now lies within the mandate of the Tema West Municipal Assembly to determine its fate.

“As we speak now, the company has not issued any lease or document to Rev. Obofuor for him to acquire that land. So he does not have the legal backing to go ahead with that construction. When our taskforce heard that, the development was going on; we went there four times to warn them. Now the actions after the warning need to be taken by the Municipal Assembly not TDC. We don’t do demolition because we don’t have those powers. The onus now lies with the Municipal Assembly.”