I threw tear gas into church to punish pastor –Suspect

Nasarawa State Commissioner of Police, Ibrahim Idris, yesterday, paraded a man arrested for throwing tear gas into a church in Akwanga.

The police commissioner said Joanthan Gyanet, who is a dismissed policeman, threw tear gas into a church, Transformation Assembly. He maintained that the suspect was not arrested with explosives as alleged by members of the church.

He further stated that the church affected was not ECWA, as widely reported.

The police commissioner said the suspect will be charged to court for illegal possession of tear gas, and for using same without authorization from the police.

The suspect, who spoke to newsmen when he was paraded at the state Criminal Investigation Department (CID) in Lafia, admitted using the tear gas, and not an explosive as reported to the police.

He said he used the tear gas on the church to teach the pastor a lesson because, according to him the Man of God has been “exploiting him”.

He alleged that for some time now, Pastor John Chia-Aondo Igbasue, has been collecting money from him in exchange for prayers to make God reinstate him in the police force.

“He has been taking my money. I have been paying tithe for about six weeks now because the pastor promised that if I pay, God will open the way for me to return to the service. So when six months passed and I didn’t see anything working, I decided to go to him and he was not happy with me. That is why I used the tear gas,” the suspect said.

But Pastor Igbasue, who confirmed that the suspect is a member of his congregation, denied the exploitation allegation.

“Where is he going to get money to pay me? I don’t operate a prayer house that collects money from people to pray for them,” the pastor said.

He added, “During the church service, we heard an explosion around the window of the church. We ran out and reported to the police and they came to investigate the matter, after which they told us it was tear gas, not explosives,” he said.

Meanwhile, chairman of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Reverend Armstrong Ajayi, who confirmed that the affected pastor reported the matter to the association, said the incident prevented people from attending the Easter rally.