Agency closes down church over noise pollution

The Transfiguration and Solution Bible Church, which was accused of noise pollution, has been shut down a few days after PUNCH Metro reported that some residents on Sebanjo Street, in the Mushin area of Lagos, complained of sleepless nights due to the church’s frequent vigils.

It was learnt that the Lagos State Environmental Protection Agency shut down the Pentecostal church on Friday.

Our correspondent had reported on January 13, 2014, that the residents alleged that the Pastor of the church, Jide Balogun, disturbed them with musical instruments and piercing electronic gadgets.

The residents had also petitioned LASEPA and the Ministry of Environment to investigate the matter.

Balogun had  told our correspondent he had complied with the directive of LASEPA and had stopped using his electronic gadgets during the vigils.

However, our correspondent gathered on Friday that the environmental agency  locked up the church.

When PUNCH Metro called the General Manager of LASEPA, Rasheed Shabi, on his official telephone line, he was not reachable.

The Public Relations Officer of the agency, however, said, “You already know that the church has been closed down and we will not open it until they comply and do the right thing.”

Meanwhile a member of the church, who pleaded anonymity, described the crackdown on the church as selective justice.

He said, “It was wrong for them to have locked up the church because even in your story, which I believe caused this, you pointed out that there were four churches on the street, with a mosque that had a loudspeaker facing the street.

“They are only picking on this church, because it is a small church. I will personally invite you to my area where you have about five churches. But most of these churches are the so-called celebrated churches.

”They only picked on Jide’s church because they know he used to be a tailor. I am not in support of noise pollution because I once suffered from it before I went to study abroad, but that does not mean we should use selective justice. If we want to act, let us act.”

He said members of the church would be visiting LASEPA to have an interaction with the GM on the matter.