The founder of Omega Fire Ministries Worldwide, Apostle Johnson Suleiman, has decried an alleged attempt to arrest him by operatives of the Department of State Services (DSS) and said he was yet to understand why they came for him in Ado Ekiti, the Ekiti State capital.
Apostle Sukeman, who reacted to the development in an interview with newsmen in Ado Ekiti, on Wednesday, said he was yet to receive any official invitation from the DSS nor had he been contacted by the outfit since the visit to his hotel early on Wednesday morning.
He denied the allegations that he charged Christians to attack and kill Muslims, saying his contention in the controversial killing of Christians in parts of the country was misrepresented by media reports.
He also denied the alleged security report leading to his attempted arrest on Tuesday that he instructed during a preaching that the Christians should go after Muslims.
Sulaiman clarified that what he stated was that there was the need for Christians to defend themselves anytime their church was invaded by gunmen and that he never said Christians should attack anyone as that would amount to a sin.
He said: “They said I preached in Auchi two weeks ago which they said implied that I was instigating Christians against Muslims. I have always been an advocate of peace and I can’t stay around and be saying such. There are widows, orphans we take care of. No leader will see his shepherd being killed and be happy.
“Later, I got anonymous calls from Fulani herdsmen about what I said. What I said was that, if gunmen came around to attack churches, you must defend yourself, but if they come to pray, don’t attack. But they quoted me out of context. I am not stupid, I live among the crowd and I am not senseless. Time for self defence has come. Whether you are a Muslim or Christian, someone can’t just come to your house and kill your children and you will keep quiet.
“I said the Christians must not go after them, but if they come after us, then defend yourself. This is what they twisted. I am hearing different versions of the story.
“I was in Abuja for three days why didn’t they come after me. But now that I am in Ekiti, they wanted to lump me up with a man they think was against them. It could have been easier to pick me up in Abuja, I don’t live here. If this will make them to clarify what I meant, I can present the video of my preaching.”
The cleric explained that it was sinful for anyone to order a fellowman to kill a creation of God, describing the alleged comment as “a misrepresentation of facts.”
Confirming the visit of DSS operatives to the hotel where Apostle Suleman was lodged, a competent source in the hotel said “when the DSS operatives came around 12/1 am, they asked for the Pastor and said that they had a message for him from the Presidency. We directed them to his security aides with whom they spoke and left.
“About 30minutes later, we saw that a convoy had arrived in the hotel and went away with him. There was no breaking of door, there was no forceful entry and we in the hotel don’t even have the powers to stop the security agencies from carrying out their functions.”
Meanwhile, Governor Ayodele Fayose, in his reaction to the development, cautioned the All Progressives Congress (APC)-led federal government to be mindful on how it handles issues bordering on religion in the country so as not to throw the country into religious crisis.
Fayose in a statement by his special assistant on Public Communications and New Media, condemned the alleged attempt by armed men to arrest Apostle Suleiman in Ekiti, saying it was “uncalled for and clear invitation to chaos.”
Governor Fayose challenged the security agencies in the country, especially the DSS to tell Nigerians how many of the Fulani herdsmen that killed thousands of Nigerians across the country had been arrested.
He said “Nigerians, either Muslim or Christian deserve to be protected by the federal government, which controls all security apparatus in the country and the moment the federal government can no longer protect Nigerians from being killed by rampaging herdsmen, citizens of the country will have no option than to defend themselves.”
Governor Fayose claimed that “the APC led federal government was indirectly supporting attack on Christians and other Muslim sects, especially the Shi’ites, by looking the other way while they are attacked,” and called on the international community to intervene “before Nigeria is thrown into major religious crisis.”
Governor Fayose, who expressed surprise that a man of God was allegedly being trailed to be arrested by the men of DSS said, he expected the security operatives to invite him if they had any issue with him “instead of arresting him in the dead of the night after a powerful and spirit-filled crusade in my State.”
He said: “If the federal government had acted swiftly like it acted on Apostle Suleiman so-called inciting comments when people were being killed by herdsmen across the country, so many lives would have been saved.”
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