Abuja
Police Arrests Abuja Pastor For Displaying AK-47
The members of the Abuja chapel of House on the Rock may not be able to listen to their pastor, Uche Aigbe, during the next church service, after the Intelligence Response Team, Force Intelligence Bureau, arrested the cleric for displaying an AK-47 on the pulpit, an act that the police considered a contravention of the country’s constitution.
Aigbe was said to have been arrested alongside a police officer, Inspector Musa Audu, who handed over the gun which he displayed on the altar while delivering his weekly sermon in the church.
Aside from the arrest, the Police was said to have also commenced a search on the church premises and the pastor’s house to ascertain if there were no other incriminating items including arms and ammunition that were not obtained legally by the law enforcement agency in the country.
A top senior police officer during an interaction with newsmen said that the clergyman and the police officer have been detained by the law enforcement agency to serve as a deterrent to other residents that may wish to emulate the clergyman and the policeman in the same act in any part of the country.
The policeman added that the pastor was apprehended after preliminary investigations revealed that the cleric, during his sermon at the church, allegedly incited members against the public, directing them to also protect themselves with whatever they could lay their hands on including guns.
The source added that Audu, who would be facing an orderly room trial for handing over his rifle to the presiding pastor yesterday, could be dismissed after Commissioner of Police, Federal Capital Territory Command, Sadiq Abubakar, recommended his dismissal.
As gathered, the offense of the law enforcement officer, in accordance with the law, was handling over arms to an individual who was not licensed to carry a gun in the country.
