The Federal High Court sitting in Abuja has affirmed the United Methodist Church in Nigeria (UMCN) as the validly registered name at the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC).
Justice Obiora Egwuatu, in a judgment delivered on Monday, directed the CAC to immediately reverse the church’s name from Global Methodist Church in Nigeria (GMCN) to UMCN.
The judge also ordered the Commission to reverse the change of the names of the trustees of the church made to the incorporated certificate of the church on October 19, 2024, for being unlawful, invalid, null and void.
Justice Egwuatu equally ordered Zenith Bank Plc, the 3rd defendant in the suit, to grant members of the plaintiffs’ church (UMCN) immediate access and control to all the church accounts opened and domiciled with the bank.
The court declared that the alteration of the church’s name to GMCN was unlawful and inconsistent with established legal and procedural requirements and held that, the CAC failed to comply with the provisions of the Companies and Allied Matters Act (CAMA), particularly regarding the proper procedure for altering names and trustees of an incorporated body.
The judge further held that it is trite that members of an association, such as a church, must be bound by its constitution and that the court cannot interfere in the affairs.
According to the judge, when one has agreed to be a member of an association voluntarily, he must be ready to abide by its rules and regulations.
“A member of an association can associate or disassociate from an association and not leaving the association by changing the name of the association,” he said citing a previous case decision.
The suit, marked: FHC/ABJ/CS/ 1891/2024, was filed by four members of UMCN, who had sued for themselves and on behalf of members of the church. They are Benjamin Simon, Rev. Dr Eunice Iliya, Bishop Emmanuel Ande and Rev. Eli Yaku listed as 1st to 4th Plaintiffs, with CAC and the Incorporated Trustees of Global Methodist Church in Nigeria and Zenith Bank Plc as defendants.
The dispute followed the decision by the CAC to approve a name change for the church allegedly initiated by a breakaway faction, identified as the GMCN.
The UMCN challenged the action, arguing that due process was not followed and that the amendment violated both statutory provisions and the church’s internal governance structure.
The Plaintiffs, through their lawyer, Chinedu Udora, had prayed the court to determine, whether by virtue of the supremacy clause, Article 1, Article 4, Article 6 and Article 12 of the Constitution of the UMCN of July 14, 2014, the 2nd defendant’s application to the 1st defendant for the change of name of UMCN to GMCN was validly made.
In the judgment, Justice Egwuatu granted all the reliefs sought by the plaintiffs and did not make any order as to cost.
Earlier, the court dismissed a motion filed by the CAC to arrest the delivery of the judgment, having agreed with the Plaintiffs’ counsel that the court was functus officio to allow CAC file a further and better affidavit to an application that had already been taken and the case adjourned for judgment.
The judge described the 1st defendant’s action as “an abuse of court process.”
In his reaction, the Presiding Bishop of the United Methodist Church in Nigeria, Cameroon and Senegal, Emmanuel Ande, described the judgment as a victory for the rule of law and due process.
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