Abuja church shut for violating lockdown

By Gbenga Omokhunu, Abuja

•Pastor escapes arrest

•Enforcement team turns back 22 travelers

The Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Mobile Court sitting at Jabi on Monday bordered an indefinite closure of The Shekinah Glory Church, located opposite the Popular Citec Estate, Jabi.

Magistrate Mabel Bello also directed that the General Overseer of the church, simply identified as Pastor Kalu, who escaped with some top church workers, be traced and arrested.

FCT Enforcement Team leader Ikharo Attah said he mobilised to the area when he got a hint that the church was holding a full service, in contravention of the ban on religious gathering. But on sighting the team, the pastor and some leading church jumped over the fence and escaped.

Attah noted that some of the church members, especially females, who could not escape, were arrested and arraigned in court.

According to him, the church workers were found guilty of violating the lockdown restrictions and sentenced to three hours supervised community service with an option of N1,000 fine.

Attah added that a search for the fleeing cleric had begun, saying he must face the law for disobeying the government’s directives and endangering the lives of his members.

In a related development, the team also intercepted a truckload of foodstuff from Zamfara State, with 22 passengers hidden beneath the bags of beans and potatoes.

Attah stressed that when the driver was interrogated, it was discovered that the 22 passengers defied the government’s ban on interstate movement and were almost sneaking into the city centre.

He disclosed that the team immediately escorted the errant passengers out of Abuja with a marching order that they should return to Zamfara and wait there until the Coronavirus pandemic is over.

“The FCT administration would continue to turn them back because they are daily coming in their hundreds into Abuja and we don’t have facilities to keep such large number. We would continue to turn them back and man our borders.

“If enforcement officers in other states are doing their jobs properly, the truck ought to have been stopped in Zamfara. It shouldn’t have crossed Funtua in Katsina State and the entire Kaduna State before entering the FCT,” Attah added.