On Sunday, some youths were arrested for wearing ‘Buhari Must Go’ T-shirts at Dunamis International Gospel Centre headquarters in Lugbe, Abuja. According to reports, they attempted to protest against the Buhari-led government and this act did not go down well with the security operatives that were present. Hence, the protesters were handed over to the Department of State Services (DSS).
A top official of the Church who spoke on the condition of anonymity confirmed the incident to The PUNCH. In his words,
“Those people sneaked into the church. I used the word sneaked because the church was not aware of their intention. No department in the church knew anything.
“They even came out for altar call and before you know it we saw that they had ‘Buhari must go’ T-shirts and they were recording people making it seem as if the church planned the protest.
“We had to hand them over to security operatives because we believe in three things. It is either they were sent in by agencies to make sure that the church is at loggerheads with the government or either make it seem like the church sponsored the protest.
“Third is even if they have a genuine protest, the church is not the right place to go. If there is a problem in the country, the duty of the church is to pray that God help our leaders. We have handed them over to the authorities for investigations.”
However, human rights activists, Omoyele Sowore and Deji Adeyanju met with the Senior Pastor of the church, Dr. Paul Enenche on Monday over the incident. The meeting also had in attendance the lawyer of the activists, Abubakar Marshal.
While confirming the arrest, Dr. Enenche said that it was not the Church who arrested the five activists but operatives of the Department of State Service. Adeyanju noted that the revered cleric informed them that steps are being taken to ensure the release of the protesters.
He also added that the pastor does not want the assumption that the church is sponsoring the protest. However, their whereabouts are still unknown.
In his response, Sowore said that except there are uniforms to be worn to church, nobody can tell anyone what to wear. He also stated that he wore his #BuhariMustGo T-Shirt to the church. Besides, many people are tired of the present administration. Hence, the pastor should expect more people to be wearing the T-Shirt to the church.
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