We suspect sabotage in church fire incident –CAN

The Christian Association of Nigeria has said that it suspects foul play and sabotage in the fire incident at the House on the Rock church in Abuja on Sunday

Property worth millions of naira was reportedly destroyed by fire at the church located on James Wolfesen Drive along Airport Road in the Federal Capital Territory.
The National President, Youth Wing, CAN, Engr. David Kadzai, in a telephone interview with our correspondent, alleged that the fire was “not an ordinary incident but a case of sabotage.”

He said,

“From what we have gathered so far, it is clear that renovation work was ongoing in the church but there was no work on the site on that Sunday when the incident occurred. Also, there was no trace of any electrical fault before now. But suddenly people discovered the fire and they couldn’t tell what was the cause.
“The question we are asking now is, why the fire on a Sunday? Having assessed the situation, I am meant to say that we suspect some form of foul play because this incident happened on a Sunday when the saboteurs must have thought of unleashing a blow on the church members.”

When asked to state the alleged saboteurs, Kadzai replied,

“There are people who are sabotaging the efforts of the church in Nigeria. These persons are saboteurs and perhaps they may be ones who are culpable in this incident. There have been some orchestrated attacks on churches in Nigeria, whether it is this one or not”

On whether the group had received any official report from the police to buttress their claims, Kadzai replied in the negative.

He said,
“When you say you are suspecting something, it mustn’t be on the basis of any report you received. You can also suspect on the basis of what has been happening and if you look at the threats issued by various terrorist groups, you may be left with no option than to suspect that perhaps something funny is happening.
“However, why we suspect it is because this happened on a Sunday and it was after the fire incident. Also, there was nobody in the church when the fire broke out. You just have to do all the analysis to conclude that there must be some sort of foul play here.”

He added,

“We are also saying that government should step up action on security of Nigerians and our churches, because about few months ago, a parish of RCCG was burnt down in Kubwa, here in Abuja. Nobody was arrested, the story died down and nothing was done about it.
“Also, there has been agitations in some quarters that that place where House on the Rock church is located shouldn’t be used for a church. So, these are some of the indicators that perhaps may have led to some sort of foul play. That is why we don’t see it as an accident and personally I don’t see one.”

Punch