RELIGION:Court Throws Out Church Worship Ban Suit, Fines Claimants ₦1m as United Methodist Church Nigeria Cleared to Resume Services in Jalingo.

By our Judicial Correspondent, February 17, 2026.

A court in Taraba State has thrown out a contentious church property dispute after ruling that the case was improperly filed and beyond its legal powers to hear.

The Upper Area Court No. 11 sitting in Jalingo struck out a suit filed by Reverend Philip Audu and the Global Methodist Church Nigeria seeking to restrain the United Methodist Church Nigeria from conducting worship at Jatutu Memorial Cathedral, Magami, Jalingo. The suit, marked UACJ/CV/48/2025, listed several church leaders and members of UMCN as defendants.

Court records show that defence counsel, E.A. Ibrahim-Effiong, filed a preliminary objection challenging the court’s jurisdiction and asked that the matter be dismissed at once with costs. He argued that the case was wrongly instituted and that the plaintiff lacked the legal standing to sue on behalf of an institutional church body.

In his ruling, Presiding Judge Barkindo Idris Chiroma held that the court lacked jurisdiction on several grounds, including absence of locus standi by the plaintiff, the urban location of the disputed property outside the court’s territorial powers, and abuse of court process. The court consequently upheld the objection, vacated its earlier ex-parte order of August 1, 2025, struck out the suit, and awarded ₦1 million in costs to the defendants.

Reacting after the judgment, defence counsel Ibrahim-Effiong described the decision as legally sound, insisting that Reverend Audu had no authority to initiate legal action on behalf of the church institution.

Lead defendant Bishop Ande I. Emmanuel of the United Methodist Church Nigeria Episcopal Area and Senegal and Cameroon District,welcomed the verdict, calling it timely and just, and reaffirmed his church’s commitment to peace and dialogue despite the dispute.

Church authorities said the United Methodist Church Nigeria will resume services in previously closed churches from February 22, 2026, beginning with a Sunday service at Jatutu Memorial Cathedral, expected to be attended by Taraba State Governor Agbu Kefas.

The church’s Chancellor, Benjamin Simon Panya described the ruling as a major relief and a sign that the courts remain a refuge for ordinary citizens seeking justice.

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