Here is the text of an open letter to the Council of Bishops requesting the suspension of Nigeria Bishop John Wesley Yohanna for undermining The United Methodist Church through his support for the Wesleyan Covenant Association and the Global Methodist Church, which the WCA founded in May. The letter is accompanied by the signatures of 358 United Methodist clergy and laity, which are not published.
OPEN LETTER TO THE UNITED METHODIST BISHOPS FROM CLERGY AND LAITY IN NIGERIA
Dear Bishops,
Grace and peace of God be with you all.
We, the clergy and laity of the Nigeria Episcopal write to you purposely to follow-up with you regarding multiple complaints filed against Bishop John Wesley Yohanna which were not resolved. You can remember that the complainants sent a request to the President and Secretary of the Council of Bishops requesting the intervention of the Council of Bishops, citing the requirements in the 2016 Book of Discipline 413.3D.II.1. As of the time of writing this letter, the complainants were yet to be notified as to how the Council of Bishops will intervene.
However, we are worried that this is taking will take a longer time and Bishop John Wesley Yohanna has continued to cause damage to the United Methodist Church.
Currently, tensions are building up as the 2022 Annual Conference dates approaches Those of us that formed the super majority of the United Methodist members in Nigeria who will remain in the United Methodist Church are being kept in the dark regarding Annual Conference dates and petitions coming to the Conference by Bishop Yohanna, the fewer Global Methodist supporters who enjoyed his backing are making underground plans to block dually elected delegates from the Annual Conferences sessions in order to take votes that will favor the Africa Initiative, Wesley Covenant Association, and the Global Methodist Church at the expense of the majority during this year's Annual Conference session beginning in November. Besides that, there are ordained ministry candidates who have completed their probation period since last year but were denied ordination and commissioning by Bishop Yohanna simply because they signed the multiple complaints that were filed against the bishop. In the Northern Nigeria Annual Conference, Bishop Yohanna tries to defrock and seize the clergy credentials of 18 pastors without anyone filing a formal complaint against any of them. Relatively, Bishop Yohanna and his aides now embark on selling landed property of the church without authorization from the Annual Conferences, for example the church property located in Shagari Quarters Mile 6 Jalingo is sold for N7, 500,000. 00 without any conference authorization and the money is shared among the bishop (N1, 500,000.00), his aides (N4, 000,000.00), and some members of the Board of Trustees (N1, 500, 000) while the dealers carted with the remaining N500, 000 besides the Muri Aircraft he sold whom we have filed a valid complaint for such deal.
The Global Methodist Church worship services have commenced in some United Methodist facilities in Nigeria without following the required procedures for disaffiliation. For example in Bambur District, the Global Methodist Church members have started separate worship at Bambur Secondary School building, Wurkun Central District at Mutum Daya charge, Kwanchi Community Secondary School building, Yamina District at Mingeh charge, Yugorobi District, Taraba South District at Bali and Yashi Pena charge.
On recent developments, we have received with joy the bold statement of our Africa Colleges of Bishops repudiating the activities of the Africa Initiative and Wesleyan Covenant Association who are doing everything possible to blackmail the United Methodist Church in favor of the Global Methodist Church. We stand by the majority of our Africa Bishops' position and express our dismay over Bishop Yohanna's inability to sign the statement and renounce his membership with Africa Initiative, Wesley Covenant Association and the Global Methodist Church, which has made him a factional and a breakaway bishop. The brief statement he sent via email to the United Methodist News Services about the Africa Bishops’ Statement has confirms his earlier signature to join GMC which is contrary to position of the UMC in Nigeria. His statement does not represent our reality: “The Africa Initiative and Wesleyan Covenant (Association) are pushing for obedience to the Bible and the Book of Discipline. Why should we not associate with them?”
This statement confirms that Bishop John Wesley Yohanna has joined the Global Methodist Church and no longer represents the interest of the United Methodist Church.
We therefore call on the Council of Bishops to urgently assign an interim Bishop to the Nigerian Episcopal area. Given the numerous complaints against Bishop Yohanna and the tension he has caused in Nigeria as highlighted above and his association with Africa Initiative, Wesleyan Covenant Association the groups working to destroy the United Methodist Church, we do not have confidence on Bishop John Wesley Yohanna’s leadership of the Nigeria Episcopal Area.
Yours Faithfully,
Signed 358 signatories
Click here to read the response of Bishop Yohanna's assistant.