There was drama at a Seventh Day Adventist (SDA) church in Nairobi on Saturday as two splinter groups went for each other over the manner in which the church is being run.

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Things at the Nairobi Central SDA church took an ugly turn when one of the groups took to the pulpit and blocked the pastor from proceeding with the summon, as part of their protest.

At the centre of the scuffle is millions of shillings of tithe recently offered by some notable persons and tribal fights between two communities, said Jerry Magutu, a church elder who was quoted by the Standard.

Officers from the regular, GSU and Flying Squad police departments embarked on an attempt to cool the situation as one of the groups even grabbed the microphone from the pastor.

Worshipers watched in disbelief as Flying Squad chief Musa Yego threatened to have the warring parties arrested, after which one group left as the other remained within the church precincts.

Magutu blamed the situation on a certain pastor, whom he said has introduced new tribal laws demanding that leaders must only come from certain tribes.

He blamed this on the trouble that almost generated into a fistfight.

“We feel alienated and we cannot air our grievances," the church elder is quoted by the Standard

Lias Ocholla, another elder, accused the rival group of ignoring peaceful conflict resolution channels.

"The church guidelines provide a mechanism of addressing all these problems but the same has not been followed,” he said.

Three cases of assault have been since reported at the church, which the office of the Director of Criminal Investigations (DCI) has been invited to probe.