Arsonists burn down Ilorin Church as govt urges calm

• Oloyede, accused NIREC member pleads innocence

ARSONISTS suspected to be youths of yet to be ascertained religion in the early hours of Wednesday set ablaze a church building belonging to the Living Faith Church along Airport Road, Ilorin destroying properties  estimated at  several millions of naira.

The Secretary of Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) in Kwara State, Cornelius Fawenu, condemned the incident, which he described as unfortunate, calling on the police to promptly apprehend those responsible.

The 300-capacity building sited directly opposite Aviation College Ilorin on Ilorin-Ogbomoso Road was completely razed.

Sources alleged that the immediate past Vice Chancellor of University of Ilorin who is also Secretary of Nigeria Inter-religious Council (NIREC), Prof. Ishaq Oloyede, had, prior to the arson, visited the place and described the land as the property of Muslim Students Society (MSS).

According to Fawenu, Oloyede had on three different occasions visited the site and urged the authorities to stop the usage of the place for worship.

The leadership of the church had last Sunday approached the Divisional Police Officer at Adewole Estate area of the town for protection during morning service.

According to Fawenu, the church had legally purchased the land with all the relevant Deeds of Transfer obtained before embarking on the building.

But Oloyede in a chat with The Guardian Wednesday in Ilorin denied his alleged involvement in the development, noting that he was only trying to play a mediatory role due to his status in the NIREC.

According to him, “what we had done was to involve many people on the issue and see how we could solve the problem without any rancour whatsoever.

“In the process I had received so many insults from both sides in the process. What would I gain by sponsoring religious crisis at my age and with my status?”

Provincial Pastor of the church, Pastor Timothy Olaniyan, who said he got a distress call about the incident around 5.00 a.m. alleged that Oloyede had two weeks ago threatened to mobilise 1,000 Muslim Students Society to pull down the structure.

He also said they reported the matter to the Commissioner of Police as well as to the governor who directed his Deputy Chief of Staff, Mr. Leke Ogungbe, to handle the matter.

The Deputy Chief of Staff to the Governor, Leke Ogungbe, who visited the scene, appealed for calm and urged the church members  not to embark on a reprisal attack.

He assured that government would ensure security of lives and property in the state.

The Police Public Relations Officer, Mr. Olufemi Fabode, when contacted on phone, said he was not in Ilorin and had not been briefed on the matter.

In another development, the Kwara State government has urged parties to a disputed plot of land at Ilorin Airport Road not to take the law into their hands but refer the issue to the courts for adjudication.

The government also called on the law enforcement agencies to bring the full weight of the law to bear on any person or group found to have committed arson or otherwise destroyed public or private property under any guise.

In a statement issued in Ilorin, the Secretary to the Kwara State government, Alhaji Isiaka Gold, condemned the reported destruction of a building at checkpoint area of Ilorin Airport Road by yet unknown persons but described the disagreement as a communal land dispute rather than religion.

source: The Guardian