Browsing by Author "Akinpade, Sunday Akindotun"

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    The mediation efforts in the resolution of the constitutional crisis in the Methodist church, Nigeria
    (Department of Religious studies, Obafemi Awolowo University., 2023) Akinpade, Sunday Akindotun
    The study examined the formative stages of constitutional crisis in the Methodist Church Nigeria. It compared and contrasted the 1962 and 1976 constitutions with the 1990 constitutional resolution of the mediators. It also assessed the relevance of the styles of the mediators in contemporary situations of churches and some warring societies in Nigeria. These were to understand the implications of crisis management in the church and society in general. This study employed both primary and secondary sources of data. The primary source comprised archival materials, church diaries and bulletin publications of the presidential and the patriarchal factions, and oral interviews. The oral interviews were conducted with 20 purposively selected persons comprising 5 members of the Patriarchal, 5 members of the Presidential, 5 members of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), and five other members of the mediators who had attempted to settle the crisis. This was with a view to understanding the roles of these persons in the mediation resolution of the constitutional crisis. The secondary source of data included books, journal articles, dictionaries, encyclopaedias, and the Internet. The data collected were analysed using a historical approach. The results showed that the formative stages of constitutional crisis in the Methodist Church Nigeria (MCN) were a result of the desire to reform the 1962 constitution in order to place the church on a high pedestal, indigenise Methodism, and establish a true church autonomy. The study revealed that the 1962 constitution was seen as foreign garb that does not allow for an all-encompassing Nigerian culture, while the 1976 constitution was created to indigenise the church to suit the Nigerian MCN factors. This major controversial area in the two constitutions led to the establishment of the 1990 constitution that amalgamated the two constitutions. The study also discovered that the relevance of the styles of the mediators in managing the age long constitutional crisis in MCN included a unique way of therapy of listening, an equation of reciprocity, and a self-reconciliatory system that was able to bring together the different warring parties. The study concluded that crisis management and strategies for dispute resolution would ensure positive growth of the church and society if managed and strategized well.