The Apostolic Church And The Management Of The Niger Delta Crisis In Gokhana- Land 1931-2010.

ABSTRACT

The main aim and concern of the thesis were to evaluate the role and

contributions of the Apostolic Church Gokhana in the management

of the Gokhana crisis, and the Niger Delta conflict. The study

employed the descriptive and historical methods of research in which

issued were raised, described and critically evaluated in the context

of the study. In the process of data collection the primary and

secondary sources were used. The data collected through the primary

and secondary sources, were collated, interpreted, analyzed and

presented through the descriptive and historical style. The study

found among other things that the agitation of the Gokhana people

was that their lives, property and eco-system had not only been

threatened, but destroyed due to the problem of oil exploration,

exploitation and marginalization. And the resultant effect was that

the people lived in oppression, dejection, depression, abject poverty

and underdevelopment; furthermore, the study discovered that the

church in general, and the T.A.C in particular was not actively

predisposed and committedly involved and very supportive in the

various attempts and endeavours to resolve the crisis. The Apostolic

Church in Gokhana was the most affected, among all the

denomination in the land, as her church buildings and economic

investments were destroyed during the crisis. The study also showed

that the major hindrance to the resolution of the conflict was the

unhealthy leadership competition among the Gokhana elites both in

church as well as in the civil society. It was in view of the fate

suffered by T.A.C. that made them swing into action strategies

towards the management of the crisis which is the main focus of this

study.. The research presented the “Season of Change” as the

emerging “church shift” paradigm necessary for the transformation of

the Gokhana socio-political conflict.