We ‘ll give God better, bigger church, says Pastor Oyakhilome

 

 

Ibrahim Quadri

 

The headquarters of Loveworld Convocation Arena of the Christ Embassy Church located in Oregun, Ikeja, Lagos State on Sunday razed down both the adminstrative block and the main auditorium of the church.

 

The incident which occurred around 7a.m. prevented worshippers from conducting the Sunday service.

 

Eventhough, no live or injury sustained by anyone, the inferno was massive and lasted for more than seven hours before it was eventually put out by emergency responders by 3:10 p.m.

 

Our correspondent who was at the scene of the incident observed that journalists and other passersby including vehicular movement were prevented from passing through the road as the place was condorned off.

 

The emrgency responders present included the Lagos State Emergency Management Agency, LASEMA, the Lagos State Fire and Rescue Service, Nigeria Red Cross, Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps, the Police among others.

 

As the fire continued to rage, the fire men with four fire trucks were battling to salvage the situation.

 

Daily Champion learnt that with the support of the in-house trained persons from the church and professional conduct of responders, the fire was curtailed from spreading to adjoining buildings.

 

The cause of the fire was not known as at the time of filing the report.

 

It was also learnt that some worshippers were were taken to Aseese, the Crusade Ground along Lagos/Ibadan Expressway to hold the service for the day.

 

The president of Loveworld International also known as Christ Embassy, Reverend Chris Oyakhilome D.Sc urged members of the church not to worry over the fire incident, saying God would give an opportunity to build a better church.

 

Oyakhilome gave the advice during the global service while reacting to the inferno which gutted the church building  destroying substantial part of the architectural masterpiece.

 

Revd Oyakhilome who disclosed that the incident is not accident maintained that everything that happened is for a greater glory.

 

He said: “We built that with what we know, imagine what we are going to do with what we know now.

 

“When things like this happens, don’t be moved. When something like this happens, God gives us an opportunity to build a better one and a more beautiful one.

 

“We must look at life from the spiritual, this is not an accident. We are going to do something better ,“ he assured.

 

It was alleged that when officials of the Lagos State Fire and Rescue Service arrived at the scene, they were earlier denied access.

 

A passerby who spoke to newsmen, Henry Egbuna who is a member of Household of God, recounted his experience saying, “When I saw the fire in the morning, I thought it was just a tyre that was burning.

 

“Surprisingly, I saw firefighters who came to the scene of the incident but some people from the church prevented them from gaining entrance to the church.

 

“They, then went through another entrance which was an event centre beside the church with a ladder to gain entrance to the church”, he said.

 

Meanwhile, the General Manager, Lagos State Emergency Management Agency, LASEMA,  Dr. Oluwafemi Oke-Osanyintolu who addressed newsmen at the sence, disclosed that the incident occurred early in the morning.

 

His words: “When the emergency responders came on board, we were able to curtail the fire and we tried our best to address the secondary challenges such as structural defects and evacuations.

 

“Interestingly, there have been no casualties or injuries despite the massive fire, and efforts are being made to completely extinguish it.

 

“With the cooperation of the community, we have been able to curtail the major incident from escalating further than necessary.

 

“We were able to respond on time and prompt action to ensure that casualties are not recorded and we were able to prevent the fire from spreading to adjacent buildings,” he said.

 

One of the members of the Church, simply identified as Chinonso, said, the church held its one week programme which was supposed to end with a thanksgiving service at the Aseese Camp Ground hence the main reason there was no casualty despite the incident.

 

“I just thank God that nobody was in the church when the incident started. We were informed about the incident at another branch of the church at Toyin Street, Ikeja during the service.

 

“Then, we saw the building of our headquarters on fire on social media, we cried but yet give thanks to God that nobody died or injured”, he said.

 

Another worshipper, Jude, revealed that the church has a trained fire personnel and water hydrant system on standby to address cases of fire outbreaks.

 

Also Onyinyechi Elizabeth also from the Church lamented that, “It was not an ordinary fire. It was a spiritual attack. We could not believe that this incident would happen to this place. It isan enemy at work. Why has it not happened all this while? It is a case of a setback; this is a great loss,” she said.

 

Another church member, Chibuke Chukwu said, “It is terrible. It is not expected and we thank God that no life was lost. God knows best.

 

“Pastor Chris is right now at Aseese in a programme and all other senior pastors with them,” he stated.