Shut Churches: Kaduna Christians Back El-rufai

 FROM NOAH EBIJE, KADUNA

Kaduna State chapter of Chris­tians Association of Nigeria (CAN) has expressed solidarity with the state governor, Malam Nasir El-Rufai for the two churches he closed on Wednesday in Saminaka, Lere local government area over leadership crisis.

The State Secretary of CAN, Reverend Sunday Ibrahim told Saturday Sun that the governor’s deci­sion to shut down the af­fected churches was a re­lief to the association.

Reverend Ibrahim said this was because the Chris­tian body tried to resolve the internal leadership tus­sle in the church over the years, but to no avail.

“It was a wise decision the State government took because the leadership crisis within the affected churches was not allow­ing peace to reign in those communities.

“We have received sev­eral petitions from the two factional pastors, none of them was ready to give peace a chance, and all efforts by Kaduna CAN to settle the matter hit the rock, and as Christians, it is not good we wash our dirty linen in public.

“So the decision of the governor to close the churches was a relief to CAN, but as I speak to you, some people may misquote the whole thing as if we have collected money from the governor. No, nothing like that, the truth must be told that those involved in the leadership crisis of the church were undermining the security of the State and the immediate envi­ronment”.

However, the two pas­tors in the eye of the storm opened up, saying that the initial arrangement of breaking church atten­dance into two sections by the State government to ensure peace should have been allowed to endure, rather than slamming total closure on the church.

In separate telephone interviews with Saturday Sun yesterday, the warring Pastors from Assemblies of God Church in Sami­naka, Reverend Simon Ji­moh and Reverend Haruna Tutu, said peace would only return to the leader­ship of the church when the Supreme Court finally delivers judgement on the issue before it.

Also, closed down is Theological Seminary of Northern Nigeria, (TSNN), Shalom Comprehensive College, and Evangelist Hospital, all owned by As­semblies of God Church in Saminaka

The governor said the decision to close those in­stitutions was the outcome of the state security council meeting which was meant to forestall possible break­down of law and order in the area, adding that he would not tolerate the use of religion and ethnicity to cause crisis in the state.

According to Reverend Simon Jimoh of Assem­blies of God Church, Sam­inaka, “What the gover­nor did was good because every government wants peace in the State. It was a crisis that erupted, from the national body down to the district, here in Sami­naka.