The Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) in Imo State has apologised to the Anglican Church over the invasion of the church by security operatives.
CAN Chairman in the state, Reverend Eches Divine-Eches, tendered the apology on behalf of the religious body on Monday while addressing reporters in Owerri, the state capital.
“The Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Imo State chapter hereby apologises to the Anglican Church over the recent incident of the arrest of Uche Nwosu in one of its parishes,” he said. “We believe that this could have been avoided.”
Policemen had stormed St. Peter’s Anglican Church, Eziama-Obaire in Nkwerre Local Government Area of Imo State on Sunday, sparking outcry in parts of the country.
The heavily-armed security operatives stormed the church with high-powered security vehicles and shot sporadically into the air before arresting Mr Uche Nwosu, a former governorship candidate in Imo and son-in-law of former Governor Rochas Okorocha.
Condemning the action of the policemen, Divine-Eches asked security agencies to ensure they carry out their duty in a professional manner.
He asked them to shun actions that can give detractors and criminally-minded persons the opportunity to destroy their good works.
The clergyman, however, stated that the association would continue to support every effort by security agencies to arrest any group or person involved in any form of criminality in the state.
“As the umbrella body of the Christians in the state, we support efforts by security agents to bring any person fingered of involvement of any form of criminality in our state to book,” he declared.
“The security agencies must be mindful of the mode of operation to avoid offending the sensitivity of our people and unwillingly giving detractors the opportunity to rubbish their good work.”
