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Winners’ Chapel, RCCG May Ground Services As Lagos, Ogun Ban Gathering
The Living Faith Church aka Winners’ Chapel and the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), noted as holding the single largest number of congregants every week for religious worship may be grounded this weekend as the governments of both Lagos and Ogun states have banned religious gathering with more 50 worshippers.
The Lagos State Government, in a statement by the Commissioner for Home Affairs, Prince Anofiu Elegushi, said the state had banned all religious gathering of over 50 people within the state.
According to the statement, the decision was arrived at after a meeting of the Lagos State Government with religious bodies in the state which included the Christian Association of Nigeria and Muslim leaders.
Elegushi said the meeting agreed that all large religious gatherings of over 50 people should be suspended immediately.
He said the suspension would last for four weeks with a necessary review carried out if need be.
He added that a committee had been set up to monitor the enforcement of the suspension to ensure that both Muslims and Christians in the state abide by the decision.
The 15-member committee comprises representatives of Muslims and Christians in the state.
The Chief Imam of Lagos State, Sheikh Oluwatoyin Abou-Nolla, said the action of the state government was commendable, urging all Muslim leaders to abide by the decision and to also make personal hygiene a priority.
The Chairman, Christian Association of Nigeria, CAN, Apostle Alexander Bamgbola, said the nation was at a critical point, stressing that since the outbreak of coronavirus, Christians had been praying.
Also, the Ogun State government in a statement by the Chief Press Secretary to the state Governor, Kunle Somorin, banned social clubs, halls, cinemas, nightclubs, restaurants, cafes, and sport arenas described as high-density gatherings of people.
The government said any gathering of 50 or more people together had been banned henceforth for 30 days as part of precautions on the spread of coronavirus in the state.
It said that the ban would take effect for the next 30 days in the first instance. Abiodun maintained that the restriction was enforced without prejudice to people’s fundamental rights to association and movement.
The Christian Association of Nigeria says it is too early to suspend Christian Sunday services and Friday (Juma’at) because of covid-19 fears.
The Spokesman for the CAN President, Rev. Bayo Oladeji, said this while reacting to calls by the Lagos State Government to suspend religious gatherings.
The cleric, while commending the government for its fight against COVID-19, said if religious activities were to be suspended, then corporate activities must also be halted.
The first hostages freed from Gaza under a long-awaited ceasefire agreement are back in Israel. The news sparked jubilant scenes in Tel Aviv where large crowds gathered ahead of their release.
The three freed Israeli hostages – the first of 33 to be released over the next six weeks – are Romi Gonen, Doron Steinbrecher and Emily Damari. They are said to be in good health and are receiving treatment at a medical center in Tel Aviv.
In exchange, 90 Palestinian prisoners and detainees are set to be released by Israel from Ofer Prison in the occupied West Bank.
The Israeli military withdrew from several locations in southern and northern Gaza after the truce began earlier on Sunday, an Israeli military official told CNN.
Displaced Gazans have started returning to their homes, while the aid trucks laden with much-needed supplies have crossed into Gaza. Here’s what we know about how the ceasefire deal will work.
Hamas, despite suffering devastating losses, is framing the Gaza ceasefire agreement as a victory for itself, and a failure for Israel.
One of Hamas’ main goals for taking some 250 people during its brazen October 7, 2023, attack on Israel was to secure the release of Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails. As Israel pounded Gaza in response, Hamas vowed not to return the hostages until Israel withdrew its forces from the enclave, permanently ended the war, and allowed for rebuilding.
Source: CNN
The leader of UK’s Conservative Party, Kemi Badenoch, has said she doesn’t want Britain to be like Nigeria that is plagued by “terrible governments.”
Speaking on Thursday at an event organised by Onward, a British think tank producing research on economic and social issues, Badenoch expressed fears that Britain may become like Nigeria if the system is not reformed.
“And why does this matter so much to me? It’s because I know what it is like to have something and then to lose it,” Badenoch told the audience.
“I don’t want Britain to lose what it has.
“I grew up in a poor country and watched my relatively wealthy family become poorer and poorer, despite working harder and harder as their money disappeared with inflation.
“I came back to the UK aged 16 with my father’s last £100 in the hope of a better life.
“So I have lived with the consequences of terrible governments that destroy lives, and I never, ever want it to happen here.”
Badenoch has been in the news of late after she dissociated herself from Nigeria, saying she has nothing to do with the Islamic northern region.
She also accused the Nigeria Police of robbing citizens instead of protecting them.
She said: “My experience with the Nigeria Police was very negative. Coming to the UK, my experience with the British Police was very positive.
“The police in Nigeria will rob us (laughter). When people say I have this bad experience with the police because I’m black, I say well…I remember the police stole my brother’s shoe and his watch.”
