By Nsan Ndoma-Neji
Palpable tension erupted at the Chapel of Redemption Church on the University of Calabar campus on Sunday after operatives of the Cross River State Police Command stormed the premises and ordered an ongoing service to end abruptly over a festering leadership crisis.
Worshippers were thrown into confusion as police took over the church amid palpable tension between two factions laying claim to its leadership.
The Deputy Commissioner of Police in charge of Operations, DCP Godwin Etim, who led the squad, said intelligence at his disposal indicated that allowing the service to continue could result in violence.
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“My duty first as a police officer is to protect lives and property. From what I have seen, if I allow the service to continue, it might lead to bloodshed in this church,” he told the congregation.
When asked why the service was halted, Etim said he had engaged all contending parties before taking action. “I have spoken to the two Reverends, to the two chaplains. “I had also spoken to the members of the board of trustees, and they all agreed that the service should wind to an end, because of the tension you can see by yourself what has been going on here, so if we don’t apply this strategy now, fight might break out,” he said.
The DCP added that calm had been restored and both factions had been summoned for dialogue.
“We have invited both factions to our office tomorrow by 12 noon to enable us to rub minds with them, and to look at the issues raised and to see if there are solutions we can proffer to it.
“But for now they have to leave the church so that there won’t be any loss of lives and property and violence of any type,” he stated.
Tension was said to have heightened during the 8 a.m. service when some key church leaders, reportedly restrained by a court order from interfering with the rights of the embattled chaplain, Rev. Dr. Joseph Ushie, stormed the church.
The leaders, said to be loyal to the interim chaplain, Rev. Israel Eyo, sat close to Ushie, a move Ushie’s supporters allegedly misconstrued as an attempted takeover, throwing the congregation into a rowdy session.
To avert a breakdown of law and order, DCP Etim ordered the shutdown. Neither Rev. Dr. Ushie nor Rev. Eyo mounted the pulpit; both remained seated among the congregation while Dr. Glory Njar led the church in a fervent prayer session until the service was stopped by the police.
