Hoodlums in their hundreds stormed a Living Faith Church in Daura’s local government area of Katsina State and looted about 205 chairs, musical instruments and other valuable items worth millions of naira.
The pastor in charge of the church, David Jato, said the attacks took place in the wake of #EndBadGovernance nationwide protests on Thursday, 1 August, 2024 with attendant violent clashes between hoodlums and security operatives.
According to Jato, as a result of the invasion by the hoodlums, the church could not hold Sunday service in its auditorium, saying that the hoodlums went away with everything inside the church building during the protests.
“We have two security men working in the church, one was on duty while the other was off. When the protest began around 10:00 am, the hoodlums just diverted to the church, many of them in Keke NAPEP (Tricycle), and broke the doors and glasses and entered the church auditorium.
“They packed everything inside the church auditorium, including the wall digital clock, musical instruments, pulpit, 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 and went away with them,” the clergyman
He alleged that three churches were targeted but the hoodlums only succeeded in invading the Living Faith Church and Deeper Life Church but were not successful in forcing themselves into the Anglican Church because of the strong iron protector at the gate.
Jato said the Church leadership has informed the police and the Army about it, saying that the police told them on Saturday that they had made some arrests.
The Pastor expressed surprise by the attack, lamenting that it has now escalated to the invasion of churches, which 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 churches? The government should come to the reality they are serving humanity, and God will judge us all, whether political or religious leaders.”
Another Church, Power of Resurrection, according to the former state chairman of the Christian Association of Nigeria, CAN, Rev. Nelson Onyekachukwu, 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 lamented.
He then condemned the action in totality and 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.
As at the time of filing this report, the Katsina State Police Command has yet to comment on this incident.
