10th October, 2013
Government of eastern Nigerian state of Enugu has explained the demolition of Mountain of Fire Ministries in the capital city, saying it was to pave the way for early completion of a major road.
The state’s Commissioner for Works, Mr Goddy Madueke, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Thursday in Enugu that the government carried out its due diligence before taking the action.
He said the government gave the leadership of the church more than one year to relocate the church from the waterway where it was built.
He said the government also allocated some hectares of land to the church elsewhere not minding that it flouted its order not to build on the waterway.
“What is delaying the completion of the road is the church which was built on a waterway just close to the bridge.
“As you can see, there is no way we can complete the road without removing the structure. The government in its magnanimity has allocated some hectares of land to the church,’’ he said.
The state government had earlier commenced the demolition of the church located on Zik Avenue, Uwani following the rehabilitation of the road.
A correspondent of the NAN who visited the site reports that three bulldozers pulled down the structures close to the waterway amidst tight security.
Officers and men of the police force and members of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps were on hand at the site.
The Pastor in charge of the church, Mr Kennedy Udeogaranya, who witnessed the demolition, expressed dismay over the action.
He said the government should have extended the deadline for the demolition to enable the leadership of the church to settle in the new location.
“This is the headquarters of the church in Enugu and we thought that the government should have allowed us some time to move to the new site.
“Some of our property are still inside the church and we did not have the opportunity to remove them before the demolition,’’ he said.
Udeogaranya confirmed that the government gave the church a new site to build another church but solicited for compensation to enable it to put up new structures.
“We spent a lot of money building the church and offices in the premises. We are appealing to the government to compensate us,’’ he said.