beliefs and mode of worship while they had neglected their own. He emphasized that Christ to Europeans was a European and to Africans he should be an African. He stressed that they had been sufficiently taught to know that Christianity should now become an African religion. The Church in its early history faced persecution in the hands of the colonial led government in Lagos under the influence of the CMS Church (Anglican) from which it had broken away. Due to its inability to obtain land, it resorted to leasing land from influential members for five years and through this method built its first church in Lagos, the Bethel Church leased by B. A. Roberts, A. E. Coates and D. A. J. Oguntolu on Balogun street. The church was initially built in twenty eight days with three hundred and fifty pounds to accommodate 600 members. It was dedicated on 22 December 1901 by Rev. J. S. Williams, vicar of St. Jude's Church, Ebute-Metta (who later became Primate). A second church known as African Church, Salem was later separately incorporated and led expansion efforts separately. The merger of the Salem and Bethel parts of the Church was later made possible under the name, African Church Incorporated. Moves however to incorporate similar African Churches (specifically,United Native African Church (U.N.A.) and the United African Methodist Church (U.A.M.) ) nearly engulfed the African Churches in an internal crisis between 1927 and 1937. This effort was led by J.K Coker, a wealthy lay man often regarded as the father of African Independent Churches. The major source of disagreement was polygamy, which was forbidden by the African Church for the clergy but was allowed by these other churches. The merger was scuttled and these churches survived distinctly from the African Church. The African Church however unlike the Anglican Church (of those days) did baptize offspring of polygamists and allowed its members to take traditional titles. Establishment and structure The African Church is presently led by His Eminence, Dr. Emmanuel Udofia although Archbishop Julius Olayinka Osayande Abbe illegally and ridiculously enthroned as factional Primate of The African Church precisely on Sunday, 22 March 2020 by a long retired primate of The Church, His Eminence, Abraham Onadotun Olumuyiwa Onanuga at The African, Arch Cathedral, 59, Broad Street, Lagos, the National Headquarters of the Church an act that is condemned both by the Christendom and laws guiding the process. The