Worshipers at the Divine Victory Evangelical Church of God
Gospel Ministry last Sunday escaped death by a whisker as hoodlums armed
with guns and other dangerous weapons invaded the church, beat them up
and injured some.
Our correspondent gathered that one of the
youths at Isale Agbara in Ita Olokan area of Osogbo where the church is
located was seen defecating very close to the church and was challenged
by some of the worshippers.
The youth was said to have left the
place in anger and went and mobilised some hoodlums who were armed with
guns, cutlasses and other weapons. The hoodlums, on getting to the
church, unleashed terror on the worshipers during service. The incident
happened on Sunday January 31st, 2016.
Some of the youths in the
church were said to have engaged the hoodlums in a fight but they were
overpowered and some of them were reportedly injured by the hoodlums.
A
resident of the area, who identified himself simply as Taye, told our
correspondent in Osogbo on Saturday that the service was disrupted as
most of the worshipers fled the scene of the incident after about 10 of
them had been injured by the rampaging hoodlums.
He said, “I heard that one of the area boys went to defecate close to the church and he was chased away by the church members.
The boy was said to have gone and brought some of his colleagues to come and attack the church.
”
Some of the church members were injured by the area boys but the
arrival of the officials of the National Security and Civil Defence
Corps prevented the hoodlums from destroying the church completely and
even killing some of the worshippers.”
The Head, Public Relations
and Protocol Unit of the NSCDC in Osun State, Mr. Wale Folarin,
confirmed the incident while speaking on the telephone with our
correspondent.
He said seven of the attackers were arrested and weapons including a locally made gun were recovered from them.
Folarin said, “The timely intervention of officers and men of the Civil Defence prevented the fracas from escalating.
“Hoodlums
and other trouble makers are warned not to jeopardise the peace being
enjoyed in the state. Anybody caught will be severely dealt with and
those on the run will soon be arrested.”
