Hoodlums have invaded a Living Faith Church in the Daura council area of Katsina State, looting about 205 chairs, musical instruments and other valuable items worth millions of Naira.
The attack took place in the wake of the #EndBadGovernance nationwide protests at the weekend.
The pastor in charge of the church, David Jato, disclosed this to newsmen, lamenting that they could not hold Sunday service because the hoodlums went away with everything inside the church building.
He explained: “We have two security men working in the church; one was on duty, while the other was off. When the protest began around 10:00 am, the hoodlums just diverted to the church, many of them in Keke NAPEP (tricycle), and broke the doors and glasses and penetrated the church auditorium.
“They packed everything inside the church auditorium, including the wall digital clock, musical instruments, pastors’ chairs, plastic chairs, and a desktop computer at the reception, as well as a scoreboard where the accountant usually kept church documents. They scattered everything.”
He added that three churches were targeted, but the assailants only succeeded in invading the Living Faith Church and Deeper Life Church but could not force themselves into the Anglican Church because of the strong barricade at the entrance.
“We’ve informed the police and the Army about it, and the police told us yesterday that they have made some arrests.”
“I’m surprised by this attack; when we are thinking about ending bad governance, which now escalated to the invasion of churches, it is something that everyone should seriously condemn. It is not food that we store in the House of God. It is a place of worship. Why is it only church? The government should come to the reality that they are serving humanity, and God will judge us all, whether political or religious leaders,” Jato stated.
Similarly, former state chairman of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Very Rev. Nelson Onyekachuku, whose church is named ‘Power of Resurrection’, was also affected in Katsina town, where the hoodlums vandalised the windows, but could not enter because of the burglary.
BESIDES, the Borno Emirate Concerned Citizens’ Forum (BECF) has condemned the killings and destruction of properties in the ongoing protests.
It agreed that some government reforms at the federal and state levels, are, however, inevitable to improve the living conditions of the citizenry.
Its Chairman, Hassan Zanna Boguma, in a statement, yesterday in Maiduguri, observed: “The youths should avoid being used by miscreants to disrupt our society.
“We urge all to employ constitutional means to voice their grievances over economic hardships to the Federal Government.”
Boguma, therefore, called for calm and adherence to law and order.
