By Raymond Gukas, Jos
The Evangelical Church of West Africa, (ECWA), Goodnews Church on 54, Ahmadu Bello Way, Jos, Plateau State has cried out over the inhuman treatment meted on their members by security agencies last Thursday.
The church at a press conference, alledged that security forces in the name of enforcing the state government order on large assemblies entered the church premises and beat up members who are not up to 30 in clear violation of the government’s not more than 50 persons congregation.
Condemning the “actions of the men and officers of the Operation Safe Haven” Rev. Charles Dah Senior Pastor said the attack was without any lawful authority.
And as such, they’re demanding an apology from the taskforce on COVID-19, which has the state governor, Simon Lalong as chairman.
According to him, the Police, Operation Safe Haven and members of the Task Force in charge of the implementation and enforcement of the State Government’s directives on COVID-19 should be duly briefed and cautioned on their activities during enforcements of measures laid out to contain the coronavirus pandemic.
He added that the “Security personnel must not be selective or biased in their enforcement but should demonstrate justice and fairness towards all Nigerians”
While blaming the state government for not properly briefing the security on the mode of implementation, he charged that the “Plateau State Government must be clear and unambiguous in its directives.”
“Law-abiding citizens must not be treated as lawbreakers.
“We demand an apology from the Plateau State TASK FORCE on COVID-19 and dispassionately request that going forward, such excesses on the part of the Task Force must be curtailed to avoid the violation of the fundamental rights of law abiding citizens. We are law-abiding citizens and not lawbreakers.”
He stressed that as critical stakeholders, the Church was committed to abiding by the measures put in place by the State Government, but unfortunately, “we were shocked and appalled that despite taking steps to stay within government guidelines, it appears the Church is being unduly targeted by over zealous security personnel in a purported bid to enforce Government’s directives.”
It is recalled that last Friday, an Islamic cleric, Sheikh Yahaya Jingir led thousands of his followers in a juma’at prayer and it ended without any form of disturbance and it was in clear violation of the government’s directives too.
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