The
Christian Association of Nigeria has said it suspects foul play and sabotage in
the fire that gutted the House on the Rock church in Abuja on Sunday.
Property
worth millions of naira was reportedly destroyed by fire at the church located
on James Wolfesen Drive, along Airport Road, in the Federal Capital Territory.
After
assessing the extent of damage at the church, the National President, Youth Wing,
CAN, David Kadzai, on the telephone alleged that the fire was “not an ordinary
incident, but a case of sabotage.”
He said,
“From what we have gathered so far, it is clear that renovation work was
ongoing in the church, but there was no worker on the site on Sunday when the
incident occurred. Also, there was no trace of any electrical fault before now.
But suddenly people discovered the fire and they couldn’t tell what the cause
was.
“The
question we are asking now is, why was the fire on a Sunday? Having assessed
the situation, we suspect foul play because this incident happened on a Sunday
when the saboteurs must have thought of dealing a blow on the church members.”
When asked
to state the alleged saboteurs, Kadzai said, “There are people who are sabotaging
the church in Nigeria. These persons are saboteurs and perhaps they may be the
ones who are culpable in this incident. There have been some orchestrated
attacks on churches in Nigeria.”
On whether
the group had received any official report from the police to buttress their
claims, Kadzai replied in the negative.
He said,
“When you say you are suspecting something, it mustn’t be on the basis of any
report you received. You can also suspect on the basis of what has been
happening and if you look at the threats issued by various terrorist groups,
you may be left with no option but to suspect that perhaps something funny is
happening.
“The
incident happened on a Sunday. Also, there was nobody in the church when the
fire broke out. You just have to do all the analysis to conclude that there
must be some sort of foul play here.
“We are also
saying that the government should step up action on security of Nigerians and
our churches, because a few months ago, a parish of RCCG was burnt down in
Kubwa, Abuja. Nobody was arrested and nothing was done about it.
“There have
been agitations in some quarters that that place where House on the Rock church
is located shouldn’t be used for a church. So, these are some of the indicators
that led to our conclusion.”
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