End time : Villagers Sack Church, Strip Pastor Naked

  ...Another Matcheted in Ikwo

By Agada Anyanele

It is indeed a perilous time for the church, as thousands of Christians are being persecuted for their faith in Christ. This is seen in the case of Adoration Ministry Power, at Ekpelu village  in Ikwo LGA of Ebonyi State, where a pastor of the church, was stripped naked for attending church service.
According to the pastor of the church, Prophet Chibata N.Big Breeze, disclosed that his church has been facing great persecution in Ekpelu village, which has led to the church being sacked in the village.
He lamented the degree of hostility among the villagers mostly the vigilante who constantly harass and detain his members on their way to church.
He decried that two Sundays ago, his colleague pastor was attacked, brutally beaten and stripped naked after several attempt to stop her from attending the church, while members where unlawfully detained by vigilantes at night in effort to stop them from attending night vigil.
He reliably revealed to us that recently a 10 year old boy by the name Ifeanyi Nkwome was allegedly attacked with machete by his aged father for attending his church.
He further disclosed that the mother of the child Mrs.Ukamaka Nkwome rushed the child to the church where he was taken to the nearest hospital for treatment.
He added that through the effort of members they were able to offset the victim's bill, stressing that the church thereafter faced threats which according to him, he has reported the case to the police who advised him to relocate.
Prophet Chibata also said that he has been a helper to many persons in the village among farmers who some of them are in possession of his money and several others whom he lends money with hope of returning it back before he was evacuated from the area
"Since the day i rendered assistance to the woman,whose husband attacked her son because he attended my church, i have been receiving several attacks, becauee i told the husband to pay me the money i spent in treating his son. Rather the man attacked me with insult saying that i would leave the community, that my prayer can not work on them anymore. Even the small boy that was attack and his mother no longer attend my church again because the father later chased them out. So since that day i left the community, many of my properties are there, so my just waiting to know what to do next. " he maintained. Not I g that he has received threat to relocate, and he had to relocate. Adding that they still traces him to the community were he relocated and tried attacking him,but didn't succeed,as they were arrested by the police. He noted he consulted them before he brought the church to the community and they all agreed.

He called on Christian Association of Nigeria [CAN] Ebonyi state chapter and Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria to intervene in the situation, as the church has lost its properties which the pastor is currently barred from entering the church where most of his property are laying in waste.
Reacting on the attack on young Ifeanyi by his father, the village chairman, identified as Joe Black,  stated that the matter was not officially reported to him, maintaining that when he received the information was when the woman had reported the issue to the eellptraditional ruler, and it was at the stage of reconciliation,revealing that the case has led the woman leaving her matrimonial home with her children to Okpoitumo still in Ikwo for safety purpose.
When our reporter visited Mr.Nkwome Alo who was said to be the eldest man in the community and chief priest of Noyo Clan, he declined comments, insisting that he was too old to comment.
Meanwhile information gathered by Current News24 revealed that mr.Nkwome was known for his atrocities in the community, as he had earlier on threatened to kill one of his wives by pouring her fuel to set her ablaze, but she was rescued by the villagers.
It was also gathered that Mr Nkwome was known to be powerful, as any of his wives he perceived as enemy, would be attacked by spiritual husband at night, who comes to suck the breast of his victims leaving them weak and sick for months.
Whereas it was leant Mr Nkwome had vowed that none of his children or family members would attend church since he is a staunch traditionalist.
Speaking with the traditional ruler, HRH Eze Albert Opuefi, he noted that the family have been known for one mischievous case or the other. Adding that before the attack on his son, mr.Nkwome had earlier been beat to a pulp by his children, and was rescued by him [traditional ruler] who took him to the hospital. Reacting on the pastor's issue, he noted that he had advised the pastor several times as he never advice him wrongly, but the advice fell on deaf ear.
"I believe in freedom of worship, anyone is free to  worship anywhere.There are churches in Ekpelu, the pastor  did not negotiate with the people,because if you come to a place you negotiate. You know Ekeplu is the ancestral home  of ikwo. there are times in Ekpelu when anyone comes to Ekepelu even from ikwo must be sure of anything he sees,he takes because there are so many things people do here which others don't do. So Ekpelu is reserved place for ancentral home, there was a church they built in my own land, i was asked to close it. But what i did was that i left the church and obtain land in some other place in Ikwo.so this is the second time. Even though this community is known as an central home we operate church very well here" He maintained

However, effort to reach Ebonyi State Police Public Relation Officer,Loveth Odah failed as she did not pick her calls as at the time of filing this report.

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----Current News24, Bridging the Gap in Rural Reportage