A Living Faith Church in Daura local government area of Katsina State was attacked by hoodlums, resulting in the theft of 205 chairs, musical instruments, and other valuable items worth millions of naira.
The incident occurred on Thursday, amidst the #EndBadGovernance protests that saw violent clashes between hoodlums and security operatives.
According to Pastor David Jato, in charge of the church, the hoodlums made off with all the items inside the church building, leaving them unable to hold Sunday service in the auditorium.
The pastor expressed his distress over the incident, highlighting the significant loss suffered by the church.
Pastor Jato explained, “We have two security men working in the church, one was on duty while the other was off. When the protest began around 10:00am, the hoodlums just diverted to the church, many of them in Keke NAPEP (Tricycle), and broke the doors and classes and penetrated the church auditorium.
“They packed everything inside the church auditorium, including the wall digital clock, musical instruments, pupit, pastor’s chairs, plastic chairs, and a desktop computer at the reception, as well as a scoreboard where the accountant usually kept church documents. They scattered everything.”
He added that three churches were targeted but the hoodlums only succeeded in invading the Living Faith Church and Deeper Life Church, but couldn’t force themselves into the Anglican Church because of the strong iron protector at the gate.
“We’ve informed the police and the Army about it, and the police told us yesterday that they have made some arrests.
“I’m surprised by this attack; when we are thinking about ending bad governance, which now escalated to the invasion of churches, it is something that everyone should seriously condemn. It is not food that we store in the House of God. It is a place of worship. Why is it only church? The government should come to the reality they are serving humanity, and God will judge us all, whether political or religious leaders.
“My prayer to the perpetrators is that they should repent from what they are doing because for you to enter church, a place of worship, is wrong and you know you are not fighting man, they should seek for repentance. I know God is forgiving and He will forgive them,” he added.
Similarly, the former state chairman of the Christian Association of Nigeria ( CAN), Very Rev. Nelson Onyekachuku, whose church is named ‘Power of Resurrection’, was also affected in Katsina town, where the hoodlums vandalised the church windows, but they couldn’t enter because of the iron protectors of the church.
He, however, condemned the action in total, adding that the hoodlums should not add pain to the church, even as he called on the government to change its policy and address the grievances of the people and always ensure to protect the church whenever such an incident happens.
The Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Sadiq Abubakar, was yet to repond to the message sent to him at the time of filing this report. Meanwhile, it was gathered that heavy deployment of security personnel around churches across the state on Sunday to ensure hitch-free Sunday worship.
