Christ Embassy drags Akwa Ibom state government to court over detained pastor

Believer’s Loveworld Inc aka Christ Embassy, Uyo zonal headquarters, has filed a lawsuit against the Akwa Ibom State government over arrest and detention of one of its pastors, Emmanuel Effiong, and a videographer, Gabriel Ekpa.

Both men were arrested by officials of the state COVID19 Monitoring Team on Sunday June 21. They were accused of assaulting the monitoring team while they were carrying out their official assignments. The monitoring team had stormed the church and arrested the duo over alleged breaches of COVID-19 protocols.

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The church has now approached the Federal High court in the state, praying the court issues an order for the state government and the police to immediately release the pastor and the videographer.

A statement signed by Pastor Kelvin Atang and made available to newsmen, accused the state government of “acting on falsehood”, noting that it was even the team that assaulted the church’s videographer.

“This action is borne out of malice, hatred and calculated attempt to malign the Church for disassociating herself from the Christian Association of Nigeria. As a Church that respects the rule of law, we had envisaged this gang up and also took steps to seek protection of the law by approaching the Court” the church said

No date has been fixed for hearing of the suit.