SOLDIERS patrolled the streets of Kaduna on Monday, a day after at least 10 people were killed and 145 wounded in a suicide church bombing and reprisal.

Many residents remained indoors as soldiers mounted checkpoints and frisked motorists and passers-by. A number of businesses were also shut following the attack.

Christian mobs had roamed the area near the church in the Malali neighbourhood on Sunday after the attack, targeting people they presumed to be Muslims, including one man who was reportedly burnt alive.

On Monday, residents said roadblocks were mounted around the scene of the blast and the two flashpoint districts of Goni-Gora and Tudun-Wada.

“There has been heavy military deployment since yesterday following the attack. This morning, two armoured cars and more troops arrived in these areas,” said Emmanuel Mayaki, a resident of Goni-Gora.

Another resident, Hadila Johnson, spoke of an increased presence of soldiers and a number of checkpoints. He said the roads leading to the church were cordoned off by soldiers.

Military spokesman, Colonel Sani Usman, told AFP the heavy presence of soldiers was “to restore law and order.”

The attack on the church during the morning service left at least seven people dead in addition to the bomber, while at least three people were killed in reprisal. The bomb attack wounded 145 people.

Although no group has claimed responsibility for the church blast, the incident was similar to previous attacks blamed on Islamist extremist group Boko Haram.

Boko Haram’s insurgency in northern and central Nigeria is believed to have left more than 2,800 people dead since 2009, including killings by the security forces.

The group has claimed to be seeking an Islamic state in Nigeria, though its demands have repeatedly shifted.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reported that 146 victims were admitted at Barau Dikko, St. Gerard’s and 44 military hospitals in Kaduna.

NAN also reported that 35 of the injured victims were still receiving treatment at the three hospitals on Monday.

The figure was released during a visit to the hospitals by officials of the state chapter of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN).

According to the administrator of St Gerard’s Hospital, Sister Theresa Dung, 14 victims were brought to the hospital and two had been discharged.

Theresa said that four of the victims on admission at the hospital were children.

At the Barau Dikko Hospital, the CAN officials were told that out of the 97 victims of the Sunday bomb blast, only 18 were left.

The team leader of the International Committee of the Red Cross, Mr Aly Ouattara, who was seen treating some of the patients, said that the hospital had discharged 79 patients who were in stable condition.

NAN reported that officials at the army hospital confirmed that 30 patients had also been discharged while five were still receiving treatment.

In his remarks, the state CAN chairman, Reverend Samuel Kujiyat, said “in this situation, we are also grateful to God because we cannot question Him for allowing the attack.

“We are giving thanks because the attack was not more than this, and we pray for speedy recovery of the victims.”

Kujiyat dispelled the rumour on the death of the St. Rita’s Catholic Church priest, adding that “he is alive and stable at the Multiclinic Hospital in Kaduna.”

Kaduna State governor, Mr Patrick Yakowa, has said that terrorists attack on Kaduna would not deter his administration from providing the much needed development in the state and assured that his government would cater for the wounded currently responding to treatment in hospitals.

The governor, who spoke on Monday shortly after he cut short an overseas trip and returned to the state capital, however, thanked the clergy, media, the security and other stakeholders for coming to the aide of the victims and for containing the aftermath of the incident.

Yakowa, together with other government officials, after visiting the bomb explosion site at Saint Rita’s Catholic Church, said apart from the attack on One Division of the Nigerian Army, Kaduna, the suicide attack on worshipers was daring and unprecedented, despite the level of security in the state.

According to him, “it was a daring effort and the one I can compare to this is the attempt by the suicide bomber to attack One Mechanised Division of the Nigerian Army.

“For me, it was not a failure on the part of the security men in the state, the suicide bomber was said to have hit the wall of the church and went in straight into the church, but we thank God that the level of the damage was controlled by the fence before the vehicle found its way into the church, otherwise it is not what we are saying now that would have been the case.

“They were more than 1,000 worshipers in the church… and look at the neighbouring houses, they have all their roofs shattered. Even the noise of the blast could be heard in the town. Let us thank God because the damage of human lives would have been uncountable. As I am speaking, we got the numbers of death as four, as we have gone round.”

The JNI Secreatry-General, Dr Khalid Aliyu Abubakar, in a statement, said “the Sultan of Sokoto and President-General, JNI, Alhaji Muhammadu Sa’ad Abubakar, received with bewilderness the news of the bombing at Unguwar Yero-Malali, Kaduna, which happened on Sunday, October 28, at a church during the Sunday service.

“We condemn the act in its totality and call for calm and restrain. It is our prayers that the perpetrators behind the act will never succeed in causing chaos in Kaduna.

“However, we implore the security agents to be more vigilant and intensify measures of curbing this dastardly act of bombings. As for those affected, we pray for a better return of what they have lost and also the families of those who lost their lives, may Allah grant them the fortitude to bear the loss.

“Finally, Jama’atu Nasril Islam calls on all Muslim Ummah to always intensify prayers to Allah to bring an end to this kind of situation and ensure peace and tranquility in our country and we pray against future occurrence.”

The Archbishop of Kaduna Catholic Diocese, Bishop Matthew Man’oso Ndagoso, who said he was inundated with calls from the United States of America (USA), Italy and other countries on the blasts, said “this is an evident that the devil is at work.

“But, you know, as the Bible tells us, the sword of the battle is in the hands of God. As long as we live in the hands of God, He knows best. The devil is running round, looking for someone to destroy. But as Christian body, we must hold unto our faith, inspite of all these challenges.

“It is just a reality that is staring us in the face, things that we usually look at on television like CNN, bomb blast far away from Nigeria, but today the bomb blast is with us.

“We can never run away from our country, we have to remain here and pray for our country. So I sincerely thank officials of the Kaduna State Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) for coming to feel the pains with us because it had happened. There is nothing we can do than to give thanks to God that in spite of what happened, it was not everybody that died, many are still alive, including the priest of the bombed church.

“We continue to give God the glory who is always in control, and He will continue to be in control. It is just unfortunate that people are being indoctrinated, and that is a problem. If you are to meet people in both Islam and Christianity, you will know that both religion preach peace.

“It is wonderful that Christianity community has been able to accept this positively, if not, only God knows what Kaduna would have been by now. So it is our sincere prayer that God will take absolute control in all that happened.

“On behalf of the Bishop, I will continue to insist on Christian representatives, Muslim representatives, all denominations to go back home and tell the aggrieved youth to calm down. It is well.

“These are strategies certain people are using to plunge this country into a religious war, and we must not let them succeed. We must leave everything in the hands of God.”

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IN what families of the June 3 Dana Airline plane crash victims may find offensive, the Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) at the weekend named the airline as the best domestic carrier for 2011.

According to FAAN’s Regional General Manager, Mr. Chris Bature, while the airline was chosen for its good customer relations and prompt payment of dues, Lufthansa Airlines was also selected as the best international carrier for the same period.

The Dana plane crash killed the entire 153 passengers and crew members on board, in addition to other victims in the residential area where the doomed plane slammed into. Various buildings were also destroyed. The Federal Government promptly seized its license, but restored it 93 days after the crash, provoking outrage across the country.

Speaking at the occasion, Bature stated that the airline was selected because of its outstanding performance. His words: “Mode of selection includes passenger capacity, frequency of the landing and take-off, their response to payment of bills. Among the domestic carriers, they were the best. They had the best volume, they were punctual in their operations.”

Reacting to a question on the timing of the award, Bature explained that the award would have taken place earlier in the year. He also observed that the reward came after the operator’s license had been restored. “In all fairness, they did their best and we need to recognise that and encourage them to get back to their feet,” he added.

Dana’s Station Manager at the Abuja airport, Mr. Kayode Adeniran, stated that the airline’s commitment to best customer service and timely departure earned it the award. He said: “We have this policy in our company that we must not delay passengers and we introduced another type of system. If your flight is delayed by 40 minutes, we give refreshments to all passengers that already had their boarding passes. So people were so impressed by our service.”

However, he lamented over the loss of lives occasioned by the crash, stressing that the operator visited and commiserated with the families of the deceased.

To prevent a recurrence, the station manager revealed that the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) has embarked on an investigation to ascertain when the airline would be allowed to commence operations.

He said the airline has commenced demonstration flights as stipulated by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO). He also said that the operation would run until NCAA certifies the carrier fit to resume full operations.

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A church run by a controversial multi-millionaire African preacher has been accused of ‘cynical exploitation’ after its British branch received £16.7 million in donations from followers who were told that God would give them riches in return.

Followers are ferried in double-decker shuttle buses to the church, handed slips inviting them to make debit card payments, and are even told obeying the ministry’s teachings will make them immune from illness.

Today’s Mail on Sunday revelations about the Winners’ Chapel movement have prompted the Charity Commission to review the charitable status  of the church – one of the fastest-growing in the UK.

Winners’ Chapel is part of a worldwide empire of evangelical ministries run by Nigeria’s wealthiest preacher David Oyedepo, who has an estimated £93 million fortune, a fleet of private jets and a Rolls-Royce Phantom.

Plenty to smile about; Preacher David Oyedepo of the Winners Chapel movement aboard one of his private jets. He also owns a Rolls Royce Phantom

Dubbed ‘The Pastorpreneur’, he was accused earlier this year of slapping the face of a young woman he said was a witch. The assault case was struck out but is being appealed.

Branches of the church have sprung up in major UK cities in a huge recruitment drive centred on Mr Oyedepo’s ‘prosperity gospel’. This claims that congregants who make regular donations and pay tithes – a ten per cent levy on their income – will be rewarded financially by God.

Followers are urged to target vulnerable people such as the lonely, the sick, the homeless and the suicidal as potential candidates for conversion.

Last night, Labour MP Paul Flynn said Winners’ Chapel was cynically exploiting supporters. ‘They [Winners’ Chapel] are making clearly spurious claims and it seems to be a cynical exploitation of the gullible,’ he said.

Referring to the slapping incident, Mr Flynn added: ‘What is also alarming is the reported violence and the lack of respect for the status of women. It’s taking us back to a previous age of ignorance and prejudice that we all thought the church had escaped.’

Caught on camera: Video of Mr Oyedepo striking a young ‘witch’ across the face in front of a congregation

This newspaper’s investigation can further disclose:

• Congregants are handed a payment slip requesting payments using cheque, cash or debit card when they enter London’s Winners’ Chapel.

• Donations to the ministry in England almost doubled from £2.21 million to £4.37 million between 2006 and 2010.

• Mr Oyedepo’s superchurch in Nigeria received £794,000 or 73 per cent of the charitable donations paid out by the British Winners’ Chapel between 2007 and 2010. This was despite claims in Africa that he is enriching himself at the expense of his devotees.

• The registered charity has spent £6.81 million on evangelism and ‘praise, worship and fellowship’.

• The church’s ‘Joseph Squad’ preaches in British prisons and has a weekly broadcast named ‘Liberation Hour’ on satellite and cable TV here.

In the past three years, Winners’ Chapel churches have been established in Liverpool, Birmingham, Leeds and Bradford, adding to those in London, Manchester, Dublin and Glasgow.

An undercover Mail on Sunday reporter attended Sunday services  at Winners’ Chapel’s ‘London HQ’  in Dartford, Kent, which attracts 1,000 congregants – chiefly African and Caribbean immigrants. It is run like ‘a business conference’ by Mr Oyedepo’s son, David Oyedepo Jnr. Packed buses deliver singing worshippers from South-East London, Essex and Kent to the huge auditorium.

The reporter saw a payment slip being given to every person entering the church encouraging them to donate money by cheque or cash or to fill in a form with their debit card details. The slip said tithes should be paid separately using a ‘Kingdom Investment Booklet’ and the reporter was informed that payments could also be made by phone. A pastor told the worshippers: ‘You shall be financially promoted after this service in Jesus’s name if you are ready to honour the Lord therefore with all your givings, your tithes, your offerings, your Kingdom investment, your sacrifices.’

Congregants were told to fill in their slips and hold them above their heads while the donations were blessed.

One of the fleet: A jet belonging to Mr Oyedepo – he has at least two that he bought with his huge fortune

The service was interspersed with testimonies. ‘I received a bill from  the bank that I didn’t understand, so I prayed,’ said one congregant. ‘A few days later, the bank wrote to apologise for their mistake – Hallelujah!’ ‘Hallelujah,’ the audience shouted back.

Congregants were told they could gain favour by persuading others to follow Mr Oyedepo’s teachings. His son said: ‘Look around you. Someone is sick and already wishing he or she were dead, that is a fruit ripe to harvest. Someone is confounded and considering suicide as an option, that is another fruit that is ripe to harvest.

‘Someone else is lonely and wondering if there is any future for him, that is another fruit ripe to harvest.

‘Also there are many men and women, young and old that are homeless, these are fruits ripe to harvest.’

The reporter was taken, with 20 other new recruits, to a room where preachers gave sermons claiming acceptance of the Lord would prevent them ever being ill or suffering misfortune.

The Mail on Sunday has seen video footage of Mr Oyedepo striking a woman across the face and condemning her to hell after she said she was a ‘witch for Jesus’. He attacked her in a Winners’ Chapel superchurch, believed to be in Nigeria, in front of worshippers. A separate video shows him saying: ‘I slapped a witch here last year!’

In May, he was sued for £800,000 over the alleged assault. The case was struck out – a decision which is now reported to have been appealed.

The Winners’ Chapel movement, also known as the Living Faith Church, has hundreds of churches in Nigeria and across Africa, the Middle East, the UK and the US.

Mr Oyedepo has received fierce criticism in Africa. One Nigerian journalist accused him of ‘leading a growing list of pastorpreneurs – church founders exploiting the passion and emotion that Christianity commands to feather their nests’.

Marriage: Seen here with his wife Faith, Mr Oyedepo has a son who runs services at the chapel’s London headquarters

Catholic Cardinal Anthony Okogie criticised such preachers for placing materialism above Jesus’s message. He reportedly said: ‘They have been skinning the flock, taking out of the milk of the flock.’

Among Mr Oyedepo’s fleet of aircraft are said to be a Gulfstream 1 and Gulfstream 4 private jets. It is also claimed he and his wife, Faith, travel in expensive Jeeps flanked by convoys of siren-blaring vehicles. He is the senior pastor of Faith Tabernacle, a 50,000-seat auditorium in Lagos reputed to be the largest church in the world, and runs a publishing company that distributes books carrying his message across the world.

His other business interests span manufacturing, petrol stations,  bakeries, water purification factories, recruitment, a university, restaurants, supermarkets and real estate. The latest addition is a commercial airline named Dominion Airlines.

A Charity Commission spokesman said: ‘The Charity Commission is  currently assessing what, if any,  regulatory role there is to play with regard to the complaints made against the World Mission Agency. It is important to clarify that this does not constitute an investigation at this stage.’

Winners’ Chapel administrator Tunde Disu declined to comment.

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Another bomb blast occurred in two different parts within Bauchi metropolis on Wednesday night damaging part of the building of Church of Christ in Nigeria (COCIN), in Zango area and another building at Tudun Hausawa without any casualty recorded.

The Bauchi state chairman of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Lewi Pokti, who confirmed the incident, said the explosion at COCIN and Zango damaged the entire pulpit and parts of the church building which will require an entire reconstruction.

The clergy while condemning the incident, said that the attacks on churches in the state is becoming too frequent and call on security agencies to be more proactive in tackling the attacks on worship centers.

An eye witness in the area said two persons on a motorcycle were seen shortly before the explosion as they were assumed to be church members coming for a routine night vigil, only to discovered that they succeeded in planting the improvised explosive device and thereafter zoom off.

In the other explosion at Zango area a building was damaged and another rooftop blown off by the planted explosive which occurred simultaneously with the explosion at the COCIN church.

Commissioner of police Bauchi command, Mohammed Ladan also confirm the explosions which recorded no injury or casualty and assured that the area is calm and peaceful as normal activities have resumed with security presence to forestall any breakdown of law and order.

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Despite the controversy generated by the demolition of over 500 housing units by officials of the Federal Capital Territory Administration’s department of development control in Lugbe 1 Extension, Gosa, recently, the FCT A says 37 more estates have been pencilled in for demolition. There is no going back on the demolitions of the “illegal” structures, it said.

The development control department, on September 28 and 29, demolished about 500 housing units at Minanuel Estate. The demolition of the houses has received a lot of negative reactions from the media and various other stakeholders and rights activists.

The National Assembly joint committee on the FCT led by Senator Smart Adeyemi had visited the Minanuel Estate where the senator expressed shock that development was going on land allocated to “National Assembly members and other Nigerians”.

Adeyemi had, during the visit to the estate, queried the development control for allowing the development to continue to about 80 per cent completion unabated and had demanded that both officials of the department and the developers should meet with the Senate. A meeting was held and another meeting was rescheduled for October 2, 2012, to further deliberate on the matter but, before that date, the development control rolled out its bulldozers and demolished the estate.

Subscribers to the estate, under the auspices of Coalition of Minanuel Estate Subscribers Union, on Tuesday carried out a peaceful protest at the entrance of the National Assembly where they presented a petition address to Senate president David Mark, calling on the legislators to intervene and see to it that justice is done in the matter, Deputy director of the department, Hamza Madaki, who was a guest on Raypower FM public affairs programme, “Political Platform”, yesterday threatened that there was no going back on demolition of any illegal structure in the territory.

He said that, apart from the estates so far demolished, 37 other estates had been earmarked for demolition.
A list from the department of development control shows that RCCG Estates; Sites A, B, C and D belonging to the Redeemed Christian Church of God; and Goshen Estate 1 and 2, belonging to Living Faith Church (AKA Winners Chapel) located in Pyakasa as well as NEPA Cooperative Estate and Civil Defence/Defenders Estate located in Lugbe CRD and Sabon Lugbe respectively are among the estates to be affected by the demolitions.

Other estates to be demolished are Trademore Estate, Sabon Lugbe; Lento Estate, Pyakasa; Pent House Estate, Sabon Lugbe; Grenland Estate, Kyami; Doctor’s Court Estate, Sabon Lugbe; Isvin Estate, Kyami; Ejima Group Estate, Kyami; Good Heart Grup Estate, Lugbe CRD; Redwood/Bidmusdruhill Estate, Kyami; and Weather Field Estate, Sabon Lugbe, among others.

The deputy director insisted that several notices had been served the demolished estates right from the time of excavation at the construction sites of the affected estates, apart from public announcements warning people not to patronise estates after Lugbe.

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General Overseer, Redeemed Christian Church of God, Pastor Enoch Adeboye, on Sunday commended the Chief Judge of Lagos State, Justice Ayotunde Phillips, for freeing 233 prisoners.

The News Agency of Nigeria reports that Phillips had on September 18, freed 233 inmates from Kirikiri Medium and Maximum Security Prisons in Lagos, during her visit to the facilities.

Adeboye gave the commendation during a prayer session for judges and lawyers in the state at the church headquarters in Ebute Metta, Lagos.

He said, “When I heard the news that the Chief Judge of Lagos State released some prisoners, my heart leapt for joy.

“The last time I was in Kirikiri Prisons, I found out that if some inmates had been convicted for offences they committed, the maximum sentence would have been three years, but they have been in prison for more than 12 years awaiting trial.

“If it were to be in some developed countries, the prisoners would have sued the government for robbing them of nine years of their lives.”

Adeboye observed that convicts often left prisons worse off.

He added, “Maybe we have not discovered a better way of dealing with some criminals, the only person I know that can change a prisoner on a permanent basis is Jesus.”

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A-Lagos based preacher has sacked his wife of 26 years and mother of his seven children over disrespect and lack of support for his ministry.

The ‘Man of God’ who oversees the Jesus World Church had filed for divorce on 4 September at the Igando Customary Court where he prayed for dissolution of his union to the mother of his seven children who he alleged doesn’t respect him and as well discourage members from coming to his church. He wanted the marriage annulled.

The Court, which was presided over by Mr Adewale Eko, held that Pastor Goodness Enemechukwu and Augustina were no longer husband and wife, as efforts of the court to save the union remained fruitless.

“This court has no choice than to dissolve the union, in spite of the fact that the wife still claims she loves her husband. The parties are free to go their separate ways,’’ he ruled.

Eko added that the first three children of the marriage, aged 25, 23, 21 were old enough to cater for themselves.

“The custody of the remaining four children, who are under age, is hereby referred to the Family Court,” he said.

The court ordered Goodness to allow Augustina to enter his house and pack her belongings in the presence of some court officials and policemen.

He also ordered the cleric to pay N100, 000 as rehabilitation cost to Augustina, and N10,000 monthly for the upkeep of the children.

“My wife is giving me a tough time; she does not respect me, she fights me and rains curses on me,’’ Goodness told the court.

“Because of her troubles, I had to leave the house for her and move to the camp,” the pastor, who resides at Okerube, a Lagos suburb, said.

He prayed the court to dissolve the union to enable him forge ahead in his pastoral work.

Augustina who refuted the allegations levelled against her by her husband said that she has been a submissive wife.

She alleged that her husband-pastor womanises.

“About six members of the church have called me on phone, telling me to warn my husband. I told him to stop disgracing God and turn a new leaf, but he refused” She added

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It was a short, sad and solemn event as the late Cynthia Udoka Osokogu was finally laid to rest on Friday, in her father’s compound at Boji Boji Owa, Agbor, in Delta state, in a ceremony that was attended by only family members and a handful of friends.

Cynthia Osokogu

A brief prayer was said by a catholic priest who later led the crowd to the graveside where she was laid to rest.

Cynthia Udoku Osokogu, a 24 year old young lady was murdered in a hotel in Lagos by some young men she met through the social media.

The burial which was scheduled to hold before now but was postponed due to the circumstances surrounding her death.

Lying in state in a white and gold plated casket, the ceremony started at about 3:15PM led by Rev Father Leonard Biachi who said a short prayer on behalf of the deceased and led the crowd to the graveside where she was buried.

Members of her family were filled with grief as they watched the young men lower the casket to the ground.

The mother of the deceased was not at the ceremony, her elder sister was seen handling all that needs to be put in place.

At the end of the short ceremony, the father of deceased thanked the press for their effort all through this period and believes the judiciary would do the needful.

The immediate elder brother of the deceased also trust that his sister’s murderers’ will be brought to book while her friend from Egypt believes she will meet Cynthia up in heaven someday.

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Action Congress of Nigeria governorship candidate in the coming Ondo State election has accused Congress for Progressive Change, Vice President Candidate in the 2011 Presidential election, Pastor Tunde Bakare of “pushing” General Muhammadu Buhari to failure during the election.

In a statement issues by the Director of Media, Publicity and Strategy of Akeredolu’s group, Idowu Ajanaku, said Bakare “is notorious for being on the losing side. He supported Gen. Muhammad Buhari in the last presidential election and pushed the much loved man with his ambition to become vice president until their party lost woefully. Nobody will take him serious, a man who has abused respected men of God in the land. How many of his predictions have come to pass. He predicted that Obasanjo will not become president in 1999 but the man ended up spending eight years in office.”

He spoke as the Convener of Save Nigeria Group (SNG), Pastor Tunde Bakare said the proposed regional integration in the South West should not be a partisan agenda, noting that the interest of the people should be considered first before that of any political party.

Bakare who predicted that Governor Olusegun Mimiko would win “hands down” and “nothing will happen” afterwards spoke in Lagos in reference to the plan by the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) to win the governorship election in Ondo State towards regional integration of the South West. He said the idea that only one political party could integrate the region economically was borne out of “colonial thinking” which was to the common people’s detriment.

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