- CAN meets police, DSS on ways to curb incidents, apprehend suspects
By SEGUN AYINDE, ABEOKUTA.
No fewer than 200 churches in Ogun State have been raided by suspected robbers, who also carted away musical instruments and electrical appliances worth over N50million.
Investigations by our correspondent revealed that the suspected robbers raided the churches between April and July this year.
It was gathered that in the Sagamu area of the state alone, no fewer than 35 branches of churches belonging to different Christian denominations were attacked by the suspected robbers, while the remaining 165 churches robbed are spread across the other parts of the state, including Abeokuta, the capital, Ijebu-Ode and Ijebu-Igbo.
Some of the churches affected by the robbers’ raids in the Sagamu area of the state include The Kings Dominion Christian Church Centre, Lalu Estate, Ayepe Road; Chapel of Victory Church, Awolesi Road, Sagamu; Holy Family Catholic Church, GRA, Sagamu; and the Pentecostal Peoples Church, Sagamu.
In Abeokuta, the state capital, some branches of both the Redeemed Christian Church of God and the Deeper Life Bible Church, were among the churches already raided by the suspected robbers within the period.
WE’RE WORRIED, ROBBERS PLAN TO INHIBIT CHRISTIANS FROM WORSHIP- CAN
Speaking on the matter in an exclusive interview with our correspondent in Abeokuta, the Chairman of the Ogun State Chapter of the Christian Association of Nigeria, Bishop Tunde Akin-Akinsanya, said that the increasing rate at which suspected robbers attack churches in the state and cart away expensive musical equipment and electrical fittings had become worrisome.
Although the CAN state chairman declined to disclose the worth of the musical equipment and electrical fittings already stolen from the churches by the suspected robbers, the pastor of one of the affected churches, who pleaded not to be identified, said that the worship centres attacked across the state had lost belongings worth not less than N50million to the hoodlums in the last four months.
He claimed that his own church alone lost all its musical instruments, electrical fittings and other property worth over N5million, when the robbers struck last June.
Akin-Akinsanya, however, appealed to the police in the state to save the churches from the menace of the suspected robbers.
He lamented that despite the local security arrangement provided by the affected churches, particularly those located in the Ijebu and Remo axis, the robbers were still able to rob them of their belongings.
The CAN chairman, therefore, urged the police to quickly nip in the bud the menace of these unknown church robbers, who he said had gradually begun to shift their nefarious activities from the Ijebu areas to Abeokuta, the state capital.
He stressed that the suspected church robbers were trying to stop Christians in the state from worshipping God by stealing their musical instruments and other fittings in the worship centres.
Akin-Akinsanya said, “We don’t know how they’ve been doing it. We’ll just get to church the following day and find out that our musical instruments have been taken away. Some of us (churches) have private security guards, but when we ask them what happened, they’ll tell us they were around the church premises, but didn’t know how and when the robbers broke in.
“If you can ask from the people in the Ijebu axis, including Ijebu-Ode, Ijebu-Igbo, and Remo, almost all the churches in those areas have been raided, especially Sagamu, where we have big churches. They have been invaded and recently the attacks have spread to Abeokuta here.
“We will like the police to help us to look into that aspect. Ogun State has been very peaceful, but in the recent times, there have been attacks, especially on churches. They (robbers) are not killing anybody, but they are trying to silence us; because if you take our instruments, what you are trying to do is to silence the Christians in Ogun State.”
WE WON’T CURSE SUSPECTED ROBBERS, WE’LL ONLY PRAY FOR THEM TO REPENT- PASTORS OF AFFECTED CHURCHES
Also narrating his experience to our correspondent, a pastor of one of the affected churches, Pastor Daniel Olufemi, confirmed that about 35 churches were raided in the Sagamu area alone.
Olufemi, who declined to rain curses on the suspected robbers, who he described as a syndicate, prayed for the hoodlums to desist from robbing the church of God.
He said that the suspected robbers were being used by Satan to commit crimes in the House of God, praying that Almighty God would quickly arrest their minds for repentance before nemesis would catch up with them.
He said, “I can say 35 churches were raided in Sagamu as at the time they came to my church. What was carted away in some churches was a lot more in terms of quality and amount of equipment taken at such time of the night.
“There was supposed to be police or vigilance group out there, yet those people were able to go with that much. To me, they were not just armed robbers. They were probably a syndicate that might have accomplices and insiders with whom they operate together.
“I am also aware that those syndicates work with insiders, who worship in those churches .They possibly might have come at one time or the other to worship in those churches and know their vulnerability because the church is an open place where anybody can come in. My observation is that they do it location by location. They face an axis and they work in very quick succession.”
Continuing, the cleric said, “For example, when they came to my own axis at Ayepe road Sagamu, the night they robbed us, they also robbed some other churches like that. In recent times, the rate of their operations has come down. Maybe they have shifted to another town. We heard they had shifted to Abeokuta. When they came to our own place in June, they raided churches consistently in different locations. So, for our church, they came four times in three weeks. Even my laptop was stolen.
“The first time they came, it was our children’s section of the church. They wanted to raid in the night but there was a vigil that was on because they thought after the vigil they could take advantage of the fact that people would just go home and sleep and nobody would return. But somebody came around 8am. I went with that person out of the church quickly to get some things and returned around 12:00 noon. So, between 11:00am and 12noon, they broke into the children’s section and took my laptop. That was a Saturday. The Sunday that followed that Saturday, they now broke into the church and took all our equipment. What I notice is that they don’t really broke into the church, they just cut one of the iron bars of the burglary and break through a small space.”
“We then began to rent musical equipment, but when they started hearing sound again, they thought we had brought another set of musical equipment, and so, they came again. But they didn’t see any equipment to steal in the church. They then moved to a church close to us and took their musical equipment worth about N3million.”
Also speaking, Rev. Vincent O Ajaiye of the Holy Family Catholic Church, GRA, Sagamu, expressed sadness over the development, urging the miscreants to stop allowing Satan to use them to rob the House of God.
“I feel bad because I didn’t expect the church to be attacked by the robbers. The instruments belong to God, so for me, it is a very bad situation. I think the thieves should just stop their satanic activities, if they don’t want to see the wrath of God,” he warned.
CAN MEETS, STRATEGISES WITH POLICE, DSS ON HOW TO CHECK INCIDENTS, APPREHEND SUSPECTS
Meanwhile, in an attempt to curb the frequent robbery attacks on churches in the state, the leadership of the umbrella Christian body has sought the assistance of security operatives in the state, including the Department of State Service and the police in order to find a lasting solution to the menace.
Already, Akin-Akinsanya, in company with the National Vice President (South West) of the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria, Bishop Reuben Olu – Oke, and other executive members of CAN in the state, have met with the state Commissioner of Police, Bashir Makama, and the state Director of the DSS, David Tuksa.
The CAN chairman said that they met the security chiefs to formulate strategies on how to provide solution to the problem of robbery attacks on churches in the state.
Briefing the Ogun police boss on the development at the state Police Command Headquarters, Eleweran, Abeokuta, the CAN chairman disclosed that over 200 churches in the state had come under life-threatening attacks by the unknown hoodlums.
The CAN chairman told the police boss, “In some circumstances, they would tie up our security guards and also rape our women in situations where they meet them at vigils. They always escape before we raise the alarm for police intervention.
“Over 200 churches have been robbed by these hoodlums, where properties worth several millions of naira were either destroyed or carted away.
“Each time this hoodlums have invaded, they’ve always entered by jumping through the fences. For example, at the Cathedral in Ijebu, they went for the security men, seized them and tied their hands before they escaped.”
Other CAN area chairmen, including Pastor Lanre Adenekan and Pastor Akin Atere stressed that they resolved to seek the audience of the two security agencies on the robbers’ attacks because they did not want to resort to self-help and jungle justice that might amount to taking the laws in their own hands.
SUSPECTED ROBBERS WORKING WITH INSIDERS- OGUN POLICE COMMISSIONER
On his own part, the police boss expressed readiness that his men would do everything possible to tackle the challenges of insecurity across the three senatorial districts of the state.
The police commissioner lamented that there must be some persons aiding the hoodlums to succeed in their operations against the churches, insisting that the suspected robbers wouldn’t have been succeeding without the collaboration of some “insiders.”
He urged the leadership of CAN to employ a system that they would use to monitor worshipers and their security guards in various churches across the state in order to prevent the continued reoccurrence of such incidents.
Makama, however, assured the Christian body of the protection of the lives of their members and properties in the church, advising the church to consider using modern-day security gadgets in their places of worship.
DSS Director, Tuksa, promised that his agency would provide adequate security for the churches, urging the CAN leadership to partner with his operatives in their respective council areas
