The Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) has expressed bitterness and condemned the act of some unknown arsonists for burgling and burning the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), Root of David Parish.
They showed concern following the RCCG church burning, which took place in the early hours of Monday at Apiawe village, Deidei, a suburb in Abuja.
Rev Jonah Samson, Federal Capital Territory (FCT), CAN, Chairman, described the incident as barbaric and uncalled for, adding that it was a painful thing to the Christian community.
Samson called on the Federal Government to take proper action on what had happened by arresting the culprits so as to avoid further escalation between the two major religions in the country.
“I see this as provocation and it is so painful to see what has happened. You don’t need an Angel to tell you that a lot of destruction has been done here.
“We are hoping that the law will take its cause in a situation where you find people who do not obey the law.
“To be very frank, issues like this must be tamed and people who have done this should be arrested and they should face the full wrath of the law.
“We expect that the government will take action and ensure that they fish out those who are responsible for this act and then with that we will be satisfied.
Mr Daniel Kadzai, National President, Youth Wing, CAN, also called on the government to take the issue of attacks and demolition of churches very seriously, as it might get to where youths cannot be controlled.
Kadzai further advised Christian youths across the nation to always maintain peace and silence to be law-abiding citizens
“I sincerely want to call on government to take the issue of church burning, church demolition and attack on Christians so serious.
“We do not want to reach a point where we might not be able to control our youths. I will still call on our Christian youths across the nation to calm down.
“The Bible enjoins us to live in peace with another. As much as they are pursuing us this way we will maintain our silence to be law abiding.
“I will keep speaking to the government. When such things occur we just hope that Christian youths will not be provoked to a point of taking laws into their hands.
Pastor Oladele Stephen, Senior Pastor of the church said that the church was not in contention with any anybody on the land where it was built.
Stephen explained that houses around the church were demolished during El’Rufai’s era except the church.
According to him, four weeks ago the suspected arsonists burgled the church and went away with six ceiling fans, two standing fans, one big generator, microphones, amplifiers and one speaker.
“We reported to the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) on Monday around 10 a.m. but they have not made any arrest instead they were asking us whether we have any suspect.
“The DPO told us that we should just go and assured us that God will help us to recover all the property.
“That we should go to panteka and look for the missing items from there they can hold the person that the things are found with. The police came but no arrest have been made.’’
Source: the authorityngr
