The Supreme Court has confirmed former Council of State member under the erstwhile Mahama administration, Opanyin Kwaku Abraham Adusei, as the leader of Saviour Church of Ghana.
This was in a three-two majority decision by a five-member panel of the apex court.
The panel, presided over by His Lordship, Justice Yaw Appau, ordered the Registrar General to cancel and expunge from the records of certificate of incorporation No. G19550 dated February 7, 2007, in the name Saviour Church of Ghana on the claims of fraud.
It also ruled that the plaintiff, its directors, their privies, and associates are perpetually restrained from holding themselves as having something to do with the church.
There was, however, an exception that the defendant on the terms set by them [plaintiff] may readmit any member of the Elias Asirifi faction back into the church.
Other members of the panel included Justice Gabriel Pwamang, Justice Avril Lovelace-Johnson, Justice Clemence Jackson Honyenuga and Justice Issifu Omoro Tanko Amadu.
The ruling follows 24 years of litigation after the death of Isaac Asirifi Asante when some members initiated legal action to restrain Opanyin Adusei as the General Superintendent and from using the name of the church to do spiritual and religious activities.
The plaintiffs, Mr Asante Asirifi and two others alleged the church was incorporated in 2007 as a limited liability company, saying they alone had the legal right to operate with the church’s name.
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According to them, Opanyin Adusei had exceeded his legal mandate and had been using the name of the church wrongly.
However, in 2014, a ruling in a High Court, presided over by Mrs Justice Gertrude Torkornoo, dismissed the application.
The court held that the church was established in 1924 with its general headquarters at Osiem, where Opanyin Adusei had over the past years been operating.
The Court, therefore, dismissed the application and awarded a cost of GH¢10, 000.00 against the appellant, Mr Asirifi and two others. Â