A pastor, of Redeemed Christian
Church of God (RCCG) has been killed by Boko Haram sect in Borno State.
Pastor Taiwo Dokun was killed in
the insurgents attack on Dille village in Askira-Uba local government area of
the state on Monday.
According to some members of RCCG
who spoke to journalists in Maiduguri, the whereabouts of the late pastor’s
wife and three children is not yet known.
“The family could have been
abducted by the insurgents who took away many of the residents of the town as
the family members were not found since the attack and have not called any one.
“Though their residence was
completely razed by the insurgents, their corpses were not found in the
debris,” one of the church members who preferred anonymity told journalists.
Speaking from Dille on Friday,
Jacob Mamza narrated how the pastor was killed in the attack which claimed 45
lives. He said “the pastor was in his house at about 6am when the insurgents
attacked the village, his house was surrounded by the hoodlums and while
attempting to run he was shot.
“Pastor Taiwo was running to a
neighbour’s house and it was in the course of his fleeing that he was shot in
the head and the chest and the insurgent equally came to butcher him to make
sure that he was dead.”
Mamza said the insurgents
subsequently went to his house to raze it down and it was at this time that his
family might have been abducted.
Some of the members of RCCG, who
spoke to journalists in Maiduguri, said the late pastor might be buried in
Mubi, Adamawa state as the initial plan to convey his corpse to his native home
in Akure, Ondo state, for burial may not materialise as his body had started
decomposing.
One of them said: “He might be
buried at Mubi for he was initially taken to a Mubi hospital where he was
embalmed but because it was not properly done, the corpse started swelling up
and a decision was taken to bury him in the town.”
Investigations revealed that his
death has caused anger among the RCCG churches in Maiduguri, the Borno state
capital as pastors who are compelled to remain in their parishes in troubled
areas of the state are set for war with the Regional Pastor of the church
(names witheld), who oversees the activities of all parishes in the state.
One of the pastors, who spoke to
journalists, said: “The death of Pastor Taiwo was too much for us to bear, we
believe this could happen to any of us especially with the insensitivity of our
regional pastor to our plight.
“We are still looking for one of
us who was abducted on January 6 by the insurgents and we have frequently
appealed fruitlessly that the parishes in some of these affected local
government areas of Borno be closed for now’’.
“The Deeper Life Bible Church and
Living Faith Ministry have closed their parishes in the local government Areas
but all our appeals fell on deaf hears. You can just imagine what is
happening to our pastors. Our pastors have had to travel on these deadly road
endangered by Boko Haram to Maiduguri every month and it is for the grace of
God that many of us are still alive today,” he said.
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