"The services [on Sunday] were normal, we had services in the two main cathedrals, within the service there were no incidents (...). Now, if a group of individuals wants to come and riot, they are detained by the forces of order, I don't see it as a protest, but rather as vandalism, because no one goes to a cult and gets away with it", said Alberto Segunda this Tuesday.
Speaking to Lusa, the current leader of the Church of the Kingdom of God in Angola (IRDA), a new denomination of the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God (IURD), contested by dissident believers, from the so-called "reformist" Angolan wing, said that the his leadership was "legitimized in an assembly of believers".
Alberto Segunda recalled that the conciliation agreement between the opposing parties – the Brazilian wing led by him and the Angolan wing, presided over by Bishop Valente Bizerra Luís – was mediated by the State and signed by both parties.
"We took the people to the polls to determine who would be the leader of the IURD in Angola, on January 14th, within the conciliation agreement", he recalled, adding that "the other side did not participate because they understood that it would not have to be the people to choose their leader".
The official stated that his leadership was legitimized unanimously in an assembly where 44,000 faithful were able to vote and whose results were recognized by the National Institute for Religious Affairs.
In an executive decree dated March 15, the Government recognized the new denomination, with IURD Angola giving way to the Church of the Kingdom of God in Angola (IRDA), also determining the transfer of assets to IRDA.
The document is contested by dissidents for alleged "vices" in favor of Alberto Segunda.
Bishop Segunda downplayed the alleged "vices", considering that "every person who loses an election has to create narratives to be able to justify their failure".
"But they do not explain that when they were called to participate in the assembly they refused to participate, they do not explain that they signed an agreement and accepted all the procedures proposed by the State", he stressed.
"Looking at the spiritual aspect, we may even be brothers who carry the same nomenclature, but not the same faith, because faith in the word of God does not lead us to riots, it does not lead us to create confusion, protests of the type we have seen in recent days", pointed out the religious.
The Angolan wing of the IURD, which contests the new denomination and leadership of the church, denounced on Monday the "illegal" detention of dozens of pastors and workers after clashes with faithful from the Brazilian wing, when the temples reopened on Sunday.
Alberto Segunda also rejected the existence of wings within the religious denomination, guaranteeing that "there is only the IRDA".
"[The] IURD no longer exists, they are just faithful dissidents, we have no wings," he declared.
Asked if conciliation between the parties was increasingly distant, the Angolan bishop replied: "Thank God the people are reconciled, the people are happy, joyful, very grateful to see the temples open."
"And people have to be content with the administrative results of the State and the courts, because the Church has been cleared of all crimes," he concluded.
Lusa also contacted the leader of the so-called reformist wing, Bizerra Luís, who sent a statement for later.
