June 17, 2020
By Ijendu Iheaka
Abia government on Wednesday shut Chapel of Answers International, No 86 Jubilee Road by Kent Street Aba, for allegedly violating stipulated safety protocols on the COVID-19 pandemic.
Our Correspondent reports that the enforcement team of the Inter Ministerial Committee on COVID-19 which sealed the church was led by the Secretary to the State Government, Mr Chris Ezem.
The team arrived the church during a mid-week prayer session and found its members not wearing face masks and not maintaining social distancing.
The team also sealed off an electrical plaza along Faulks road, near the Ariaria International Market.
Ezem who expressed displeasure with conduct of the traders at the Ariaria international market threatened to shut down the market if the traders and their leadership persisted in refusing to comply with COVID-19 protocols.
He berated Ariaria market leadership and COVID-19 Task Force in Aba for being ineffective which he said manifested in the care-free attitude of the traders in the market towards compliance with the safety rules.
“We are not doing anything that is out of place; government directives and protocols on religious worship is very explicitly, he said at the church.
“Government directive is that religious worshippers can worship on Sundays; 50 persons per stream, two persons per pew and observe social distance and other protocols.
“We made it clear that there should be no mid-week activities; Lagos State just withdrew from the opening churches and Mosques because of the events that are unfolding; We can start risking the lives of Abians.
“Government is making every effort to ensure that the people are safe; Our numbers (of COVID-19 infected persons) are increasing by the day and it should worry you.
“We have to be alive to continue to worship. Why would this church be going against the directives against mid-week service?
“The lives of Abians are important to the state government and I am ordering that the pastor be prosecuted for violating government directives”, Ezem said.
He urged residents to ensure they wear their face masks, maintain social distance and sanitize their hands stressing that government does not want further spread of the disease in Abia.
He said his team visited Aba to ensure that the orders of the state government were being adhered to.
“On Ariaria, if we find out any breach of government directives as the condition for trading in this place, we may be forced to withdraw what we have given and order a complete lockdown of the market”, he said.
However, after few hours of sealing of the church which video went viral on the Social Media, our Correspondent visited the church and inquiries made from the worshippers confirmed that the church had been unsealed.
A young man who spoke to our Correspondent under anonymity said everything had been settled and the Church unsealed.
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