Drowned man was not used for rituals, says Celestial Church of Christ

Authorities of the Celestial Church of Christ (CCC) has debunked the claim that the 21-year-old Sylvester Friday, who drowned while doing construction work at one of the parishes of the church in Kaduna State, last week was used for ritual purposes, saying it was an accident.

The people of Bayan Dutse, Narayi, Chikun Local Government Area of Kaduna had on Wednesday, March 21, accused the Parishioner in the Area, Evangelist Steven Shittu, of using the deceased for rituals, which led to burning of the church and a police outpost for taking the accused into protective custody.

Addressing newsmen in Kaduna alongside other top leaders of the church, Head, Province, Kaduna State, Evangelist (Dr.) Sam Atolagbe, said that was not the first time the church would engage the service of the deceased in its effort to prevent perennial erosion, which has overtaken some parts of the church.

According to him, the incident occurred as an act of accident and not spiritual as claimed by irate youths, who set the church and SUV car belonging to a church member ablaze.

“On behalf of the entire members of CCC worldwide, we wish to express our deepest condolence to the family of Sylvester Friday over the tragic loss of their son.

While commiserating with the family of the deceased, we wish to set the record straight following the media report alleging the Shepherd, Superior Evangelist Steven Shittu for being responsible for the boy’s death.

“Over the past four years, part of the church land has been lost due to erosion and efforts have been made to recover the eroded land, which involves the shepherd engaging some of the youths of the community to carry out mini construction work to barricade portions where the erosion is less severe.

“We reiterate that what happened on that day was an accident and by no means ritual. The church separate itself wholly from any kind of diabolical activity based on the church’s doctrine and tenets”, he said.

However, as at the time of filing this report, the shepherd was still in protective custody of the Criminal Investigation Department of Nigeria Police Force, Kaduna State Command.