The Household of David church in Surulere Street, Adeniyi Jones in the Ikeja Local Government Area of Lagos State has lost its multi-million naira church auditorium to a fire incident that gutted the church building.
It was gathered that the incident occurred at about 10:00 am on Wednesday.
Confirming the incident in a phone interview, the Lagos State Fire Service spokesperson, Amodu Shakiri, disclosed that the church’s auditorium ceiling was overheating, which caused it to collapse and ignite a fire.
He added that the Lagos State Fire and Rescue Service’s Alausa and Ikeja Fire Stations, LASAMBUS, LASEMA, and Red Cross were the relevant agencies present at the scene.
Shakiri said the property damaged by the fire included the church’s furnishings and the auditorium.
He said, “The fire was however made to confine within the church’s auditorium it started from while salvaging adjoining properties. The relevant agencies involved were the Lagos State Fire and Rescue Service, Alausa and Ikeja fire stations, LASAMBUS, LASEMA, and Red Cross. And the property involved in the destruction of the fire included the auditorium and church-hold items.
Reacting to the tragedy, the Senior Pastor of Household of David, Olusola Osunmakinde, in a video on Instagram, said, “It is a painful experience.”
According to Osunmakinde, a passerby made fun of him by inquiring, “Where was Jesus when this happened?”
He said the church’s air conditioners, chairs, and other equipment were all burnt.
He said, “As we know, ‘Mercy Conference’ starts today, but something happened that I just want to put a message out there to people. I came here this morning, everybody was setting up, everything was going fine. All of a sudden, we started hearing that there was fire and something up there on the roof of the church. I know there will be reactions, and people will say that and that, but that is none of my concern now.
“The most important thing is this, we thank God no life was lost and we thank God for everything. We are not too discouraged but we believe in God that we will still go on with the conference.
“It is a painful experience no doubt, even someone walked into the compound mocking, saying, ‘Where is Jesus when this happened?’ We don’t owe people an answer, all we believe is that all things work together. We will not back out because of this but by the grace of God, all things work together for good.”