The Provincial Pastor of the Living Faith Church, aka Winners Chapel, Sango Province, Ilorin, Kwara State, Pastor Chris Osiberu, has accused members of the Ajegunle Muslim community of destroying materials for the ministry’s church building project at Kulendu.
According to Osiberu, the incident occurred on Friday while workers were on site working on the project.
Addressing journalists in Ilorin on Saturday, the cleric claimed that property destroyed included a shopping plaza and money allegedly stolen from the workers and contractors were estimated at N78.3m.
He said over 100 Muslim youths from Old Jebba Road, Sango Area, Ilorin allegedly attacked the workers and demolished the ongoing project.
In a petition dated March 23, 2012, and sent to the Divisional Police Officer, ‘E’ Division Police Station, Kulende, Sango Area, Osiberu said the destruction was carried out in total disregard of the laws and government institutions, which he said had been mediating between the church and the Muslims for several months.
The petition, which was made available to journalists, was copied to the Inspector-General of Police, Deputy Inspector General of Police, The state Commissioner of Police, The Director, State Security Services and the Area Commander,
It said, “On Friday, March 23, after the Jumaat prayers, the youths of the Ajegunle Mosque came to the Living Faith Church site in large numbers. They destroyed church wall fence and the building material that was on our site. They beat the people on the site, stole two laptops computers and tools.”
Osiberu explained that at the last mediatory meeting with the Acting Commissioner of Police in the state, the representatives of the Muslim community and the church signed an undertaking of good behaviour.
He said there was a need to address the issue to nip the festering religious disharmony in the bud.
Osiberu said trouble started about two years ago, after the church bought a land previously belonging to the Nigerian Telecommunications Limited. He stated that after NITEL was liquidated and the land sold on behalf of NITEL to a buyer, the church bought the land from the buyer with the complete documents including Certificate of Occupancy.
He alleged that the Muslim community felt uncomfortable for the church to erect a place of worship near their mosque. The church was subsequently sued at the High Court, Ilorin before Justice Halima Saleeman. The case was later dismissed by the judge.
Osiberu said, “After the case was dismissed, the Muslim community reported the matter to the state Town Planning and Development Authority, saying the proposed church building will be in conflict with their worship place.”
It was learnt that the state town planning authority later recommended that the church should erect a shopping complex in the frontal part of the land that faced Old Jebba Road so as to shield the activities of the church away from the Muslim community.
It also recommended that the proposed church should also face the road at the rear end.
Osiberu said though it was costly for the church, it accepted and abided by the recommendations to ensure peace.
He added that both parties signed undertakings before the SSS and the police to maintain the peace.
He said the church was presently at loss over the incident. He called on the state government and the law enforcement agencies to immediately prevail on the culprits to avoid a reprisal.
Osiberu said, “This is an injustice. They are not the only people who know how to fight. We have people who can fight. It does not take us anything to mobilise more than 2000 of our people to fight.
“But as people of peace, we have reported this current attack to the police. We do not know what they have done so far. The action of our attackers is an invitation to anarchy. If anything happens, people should know that it was started by the Muslims who are taking laws into their hands.”
One of the site engineers, Mr. John Ramonu, accused the two policemen on duty of negligence, adding that one of the church workers was beaten to a state of unconsciousness and was only revived after receiving first aid treatment.
He said, “When they came to attack us, I went to the two armed policemen on site. They said they got signal that they should leave there now and move to the office. They just watched our attackers destroy things.”
Meanwhile, the Chairman, Inter-Religious Committee of the state, Alhaji, Muhammed Koro, advised the church to write to the committee to look into the matter.
He said, “We have a procedure for doing our job. If there is anything like that, we either receive a letter of complaint and we visit the place. If they write on time, we are sitting on Thursday; we take the complaint to the people and get their own reaction. That is the procedure,” he said.
The state Police Public Relations Officer, Mr. Ezekiel Dabo, in a telephone interview with our correspondent on Sunday said he could not confirm or comment on the issue until he was properly briefed.
But the Division Police Officer, ‘E’ Division Police Station, Kulende-Sango Area, Ilorin, Mr. Abdullahi Aminu, said the church had formally complained to the police.
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