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Cleric flays Anambra, others for excluding churches from COVID-19 fight

By Osiberoha Osibe, Awka
18 August 2020   |   3:55 am
The General Secretary of Pentecostal Bishops’ Association of Anambra State (PBAAS), Charles Uchenna, has blamed the exclusion of churches by the Anambra State Government...

The General Secretary of Pentecostal Bishops’ Association of Anambra State (PBAAS), Charles Uchenna, has blamed the exclusion of churches by the Anambra State Government and others for the inability to contain the spread of COVID-19 in the country.

Speaking in an interview with The Guardian in Awka yesterday, the Presiding Bishop of Lovebreeds’ Christian Ministry, Owerri, Imo State, who bemoaned the effects of the pandemic on the country’s economy, criticised the state government for allegedly neglecting the church, especially the Pentecostal church.

He also condemned the decision to close worship centres in the bid to contain coronavirus spread.

The cleric said: “There is COVID-19 pandemic but you cannot rule out sabotage. The devil has hijacked it and brought woes, using it to harass man.

“You (government) locked out the churches, hence the colossal failure in tackling the pandemic. If the churches were allowed, COVID-19 would have been tamed.

“It is a clear case of orchestrated attack from the pit of hell and the only solution is to use the church to fight it, but government went for non-spiritual measure hence the panicky measures that induced fear in the masses.”

Uchenna said COVID-19 had exposed government’s insensitivity to the yearnings of the masses.

He said hunger had killed more people in Nigeria than COVID-19.

The Bishop said: “A time like this is not one to exclude the church. The true church has a solution for COVID-19. What is COVID-19 when the church can work miracles, raise the dead and cast out demons.

“Why did you (government) suddenly forget the church and chose to fight COVID-19 alone; we are disappointed. However, we did not challenge government to avoid incitement because of our position of authority, so we silently played it down. But we have to condemn it.”

The gospel preacher advised government to always recognise the church in its policy-making and programme implementation.

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