Kunle ADELABU
-Sues police against further harassment
Leadership and members of the Embrace International Assembly Church, Ikorodu, has condemned their continuous harassment by the police while also calling on the police authority to respect the laws of the land.
The Church stated that the call became necessary due to the alleged persistent provocation and harassment by the police.
According to the Church, the recent experience was the attempt by the police to prevent members of the Church from gaining access into the Church premises on Sunday, September 16, 2018.
THE IMPACT gathered that the Church has already instituted a case against the Nigeria Police to prevent further harassment.
According to some youths of the Church, the persistent harassment by the police officers has made the Church to lodge a formal complaint with the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) in Ikorodu.
Members of the church alleged that their present ordeal is being perpetrated by a senior aide to President Muhammad Buhari whom they said is a member of the Foursquare Church which is having a running battle with their church over the ownership of the building which is presently occupied by Embrace.
The controversial building is located on Eruwen junction, Ikorodu.
“It was very surprising to see the police here again today (Sunday, September 16) trying to prevent us from gaining access to our Church after we had gone to the DPO’s office few days back to report the same incident which happened during the week.
“The police harassment is becoming unbearable for us. Why is the police bias against us since we have our matter against Foursquare Church before a competent court? The court has not made any pronouncement against us, so, police or any other authority cannot issue any order preventing us from having access into our Church that we built and which is being run by a registered Trustees.
“We have complied with the Court directive concerning the Pastor they are having issue with and he is no longer coming to the church as directed by the court. Why can’t they leave us alone and wait for the court, where they charged us to, to make its final ruling? Their problems is that they don’t have a structure like this anywhere in Nigeria which is the reason they are hell bent on taking ownership of a structure we built ourselves”, one of the youth leaders of the church alleged.
The Church Secretary, Mr Tunji Amokade, also in an interview, told THE IMPACT that worshippers were also prevented from gaining entrance into the Church on the 11th, 12th and 15th of this month, a situation which he said led them to the offices of the Commissioner of Police and the DPO.
He explained that the Sunday’s incident was not a serious one, stating that the leadership of the church quickly intervened to prevent confrontation with the police.
“There was really no serious engagement with the police. They came as usual but people were not deterred. Only that the youths arm of our ministry felt that the police cannot continue to harass them and as a result, they went to the DPO on Saturday, September 15 with the Church knowledge and I guess a point was made that until they see a court paper restraining them from entering the Church premises, this Church shall remained opened”, he stated.
“In order not to have a problem at hand, the leadership of the Church gathered to prevent them from being harassed by anybody. As people were coming in, we were on ground to ask them to move straight into the Church. We were able to handle the situation peacefully. If you go into the Church now, you will find our members worshipping”, the church Secretary stated.
Explaining the experience of the Church members in the preceeding week, Mr Amokade stated:
“Unfortunately, the matter has been in the news since one week ago. I got wind of it as well that police were on our Church’s premises turning people back from the mid-week services. Our members were denied access to the Church on Tuesday, Wednesday and even Saturday last week.
“It was due to that incident that we went to meet the Commissioner of Police on Thursday (September 14). We got a letter, which was addressed to the Embrace International Assembly, Ikorodu, to that effect through the DPO in Ikorodu summoning us to attend a peace meeting over the issue.
“The meeting was meant to be a tripartite meeting among Embrace Assembly, the police and Foursquare Church. Unfortunately, Foursquare Church did not turn up for the reason best known to them. Police tried all they could at the meeting to reach them but all to no avail.
“But to our dismay, there was an advice from the police that every party should stay off the property and when we asked that on whose authority are we going to stay away, we were duly informed that it is an order from above.
“Which order is from above? We are all aware of Daura Lawal’s matter. It’s still very fresh in our memories. Also, the invasion of National Assembly without any authority and even if there was, we know the consequences thereafter. The invasion of Edwin Clark house is equally fresh and so also is that of the Senate President’s apartment and his deputy.
“You know all this are still very fresh in our minds.That was the reason we asked where from the above the order was actually coming from. Is it a pronouncement of a competent court that has given you the order to ask us to leave the premises of our Church or that would deny us the right to have access to our property?”
“They were making frantic efforts to call someone on phone and they were mentioning chief media aide to the President. In the last two days, the social media has been bustling with the report that it was actually Femi Adeshina they were talking to and we were wondering on what could have been the reason behind Adeshina’s involvement in a local matter such as this?” , Mr Amokade asked.
When asked further about Adeshina’s interest in the issue, the Church Secretary stated:
“I wouldn’t know what interest he is protecting. As far as we are concerned, Femi adeshina is a personal aide and chief media assistant to President Muhammadu Buhari and I do not think that he has anything to do with religious activities. He has never been a member of our Church and I have never met him before and I’m not sure he is even from Ikorodu. So, I don’t know whose interest he is serving.
“The earlier we remind our people that this is not a Banana Republic, the better for everyone of us. We cannot be taking law into our hands because we are in a particular office. You cannot usurp the power of the court and start using police to harass people”.
When asked about the matter between his Church and Foursquare Church which is now before a competent court, Mr Amokade stated:
“It was the Foursquare Church that actually took this church to court. The case has been before the Industrial Court and they have been ruled out. They equally took the Church to Panti police station where their matter was again ruled out. We have also been taken to other police stations and even to the Commissioner of Police’s office, three different units have handled our case. All these are abuse of privileges. The matter is before a court and there is a temporary ruling on the matter which is restraining the pastor of this Church in person of Pastor Isaac Adeyemi from coming to the Church. Even though the Church has appealed the ruling, the leadership of the Church has asked Pastor Adeyemi to go and cleared himself with Foursquare Church. We have fully complied with the ruling.
“This is a Church of God that has trustees that manages its affairs. We are law abiding citizens and the Pastor has been asked to stay away. The court did not restrain the worhsippers or asked that the Church be sealed. It is only an imagination of someone somewhere saying that the Church must be sealed pending the final determination of the matter.
Mr Tunji Amokade informed THE IMPACT that the Church has filed a case in court to prevent further invasion and harassment by the police.
“We have filed a case against the police. Unfortunately, the case has not been allotted to a particular court because the court is not on session, but it has been appropriately served. The Church filed the case to check the harassement by the police.
“Early February this year, this Church was sealed by the police without any backing of the court. We later discovered that it was an illegal operation. We have filled a case against them.
“We are equally appealing to the constituted authority to ensure that the law of the land is fully complied with and respected.
“Nobody should usurp the power of the court or be allowed to use his office illegally in deploying the police at his will. This is not a Banana Republic and those in authority should act according to the laid down rules that govern everybody”.
On the intervention of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Lagos State Chapter and Ikorodu zone in the face-off between the two churches, the Secretary responded that their Church is counting on God to fight the battle for them.
“I guess it is in the public glare. The leadership of the church are taking appropriate steps to ensure that this is addressed. We are trusting God with the battle. This is a battle God has been fighting and we believe that at the appropriate time, His will be done”.
As at the time of going to press, we were yet to hear from the police concerning the allegations of harassment, invasion and for the confirmation of the church’s case against the police in these regards.
The Lagos Command Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), who, on Tuesday, September 18, 2018, picked our reporter’s call, said he was busy and promised to get back but never did while the two separate texts sent to his phone line on Wednesday (September 19) on the issue are yet to be responded to.
