The auditorium of Household of David Church was engulfed by fire, yesterday, few hours before an advertised programme. The incident at the premises located at Surulere Road, Ikeja Local Council, Lagos State, led to the destruction of property estimated at millions of naira.
The Guardian learned that the programme, tagged ‘Mercy Conference’, was to have started yesterday, January 31. Senior Pastor of the church, Olusola Osunmakinde, described the experience as painful, adding that someone walked into the premises and mockingly asked: “Where was Jesus when this happened?”
In a video shared on the church’s Instagram account, a few hours after the incident, Osunmakinde said air conditioners, chairs, and other equipment were destroyed. He said: “As we know, Mercy Conference starts today, but something happened, and 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 a fire and something up there on the roof of the church.
“I know there would be reactions, and people will say this 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.
“To everyone out there, we are not sad. We are happy, for all things work together… The Bible didn’t say all good things… all things both bad and ugly .”
“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…”
He added: “We will know what to do about the building. Every prayer, every contribution, every word is necessary now. Today’s meeting goes on, this evening. If we have to lift our hands and worship outside, we will do it. We will not back out because of this. By the grace of God, all things work together for good.”
Spokesperson for the Lagos State Fire Service, Amodu Shakiri, said the ceiling of the auditorium became overheated, resulting in a collapse, and a fire.
