Boko Haram drama at Winners Chapel
•Church petitions IGP
By SUNDAY ANI
Sunday, March 11, 2012


A branch of Dr David Oyedepo’s Living Faith Church (also known as Winners Chapel) in Barnawa, Kaduna State, has petitioned the Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Mohammed Abubakar, over threat to the life of some of its members for reporting an alleged accomplice of a suspected suicide bomber to the police.

According to the petition dated March 2, 2012 and jointly signed by the Senior Pastor, Bishop Mike Afolabi, and the Church’s Secretary, Barr O. Omoloba, the church’s security guards apprehended a man who allegedly attempted to bomb the church around 8:40am on January 8 this year

The petitioners alleged that the man (whose identify was not disclosed) attempted to drive into the church premises but when the security men stopped him and discovered that he was carrying explosive devices at the back seat of his car, he turned back and drove off.

“The security men,” the petition further stated, “pursued him but just by the side of the gate outside, a man who parked his car there followed them and was flashing them to stop. When they refused, he overtook them, blocked their way and informed them that the church said they should stop pursuing the suspected bomber.”

The petitioners said the man’s action aroused suspicion, which forced the security guards to report the matter to the Barnawa Police Station, where the man who gave them the wrong information was detained.
“But when representatives of the church visited the police headquarters in Kaduna on February 13 to know the fate of the man that was arrested, they found out that he had been released,” the petition stated.
They said their efforts to speak with the Kaduna State Commissioner of Police on January 17, met a brick wall as they could not see him.

The church expressed surprise that the suspect, who claimed to be working with the Sharia Court, Kakuri, Kaduna State, was released without investigating why he was at the premises at the time of the incident when he was not a member of the church.

The petitioners stated that rather than investigate the man’s claim about his place of work, the security men who reported the suspected accomplice of the alleged bomber have been receiving strange phone calls.
The unknown callers are said to be seeking audience with one of the security men as well as threatening him.
The church wants the IGP to thoroughly investigate the matter in order to avoid unnecessary waste of lives.
Among those copied in the petition are the Kaduna State governor, the Minister of Police Affairs, chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Police Affairs as well as the state Commissioner of Police and Director of State Security Services.