Holy
Apostles Church members in Ilaje Local Government Area of Ondo State
have taken to the streets to protest the continued closure of their
church.
The church members protesting closure of their church by the police
Members of the Holy Apostles Church, Ayetoro in Ilaje Local
Government Area of Ondo State came out in their numbers on Sunday to
protest against the continued closure of their church by the police.
According to Punch, the church was closed down by the order Ondo
State Police Command in January 2016 following a leadership crisis in
the community.
The members say that the church is the only church that all members
of the community attend and whoever is the head of the riverine
community is the head of the church. They begged the government to come
to their aid and end the crisis.
It was also gathered that sequel to the closure, members of the
community were unable to worship. During the protest on Sunday,
worshippers who were in their regalia carried placards with different
inscriptions such as ‘Open our place of worship’, ‘ Freedom of worship
is our right here,’ ‘All we are saying, we need a place of among others.
A member of the community on condition of anonymity disclosed that
the church was initially closed down for several months but was reopened
on November 8, 2015 and later closed down again on January 11, 2016 for
the second time by the police.
One of the leaders of the church, Mr. Lawrence Lemamu, who spoke
with journalists on the development lamented that the government and
police authority were depriving them of their fundamental human right to
worship in the land of their fathers.
He said, “Serving God in worship is key and central to the
establishment of this community by our forefathers. Ayetoro is all about
worshipping God.”
However, another leader of the church, Bishop Eretan, said the
church was placed under lock because the problem in the community
aggravated from the church, noting that it was part of the measure
employed to calm the aggrieved parties before government wades in to
settle the crisis.
Eretan said that the closure was recommended as a temporary
solution to the problem to avert similar crisis which first erupted in
1986, when a life was lost in the civil unrest.
“Religious crisis is very dangerous. If we are not careful many
lives may be lost. The same mechanism used then we have applied.” he explained.
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