Enugu govt demolishes Mountain of Fire Church

The large worship centre of the Mountain of Fire and Miracles Ministries, MFM along Zik Avenue in Enugu State Capital, was yesterday demolished by Enugu State Government.

Residents of Coal City were shocked to see earthmoving equipment at the premises of the church which is at the foot of the Zik Avenue Bridge Thursday morning.

The pastors and members of the church watched helplessly as the four equipment pulled down the one-storey building with large auditorium and office complex .

The church members who were angered by the development rushed into the building and moved the church property  to one side of the auditorium pleading with the officials of the Enugu Capital Territory Developmnt Authority, ECTDA who were supervising the demolition to spare the property.

But their plea fell on deaf ears as the bulldozers went ahead to demolish the house in the presence of many residents who converged on the Zik Avenue Bridge to watch what they regard as a war against the house of God.

When the church members failed to stop the demolition, they quickly gathered at the entrance and began to pray violently against the government and those operating the bulldozers.

The Enugu State government had declared the building illegal  as it was built along the Asata River allegedly violating  the state Town Planning regulations.

The church had gone to Enugu State High court to restrain the government from demolishing the building but while the matter was progressing in court, the government allocated another land to the church with a directive to the church leaders to relocate.   The alternative allocation was situated at Emeka Ebilla Avenue off Agbani Road, but the church was said to be relunctant relocating to the place  insisting that government must pay compensation to enable the church erect another building at the new location.

The government, however, declined and reportedly gave the church some months to vacate the church building which was thereafter marked for demolition.

The Advocate learnt that the church and officials of the state Ministry of Lands had engaged in dialogue on the area of disagreement but they could not reach any compromise hence the decision by the government to send the church packing yesterday.

The resident pastor, Kennedy Udogaranya has condemned the action of the government saying even though the government had given the church an alternative allocation, the church should not be evicted in a hurry as they would not conduct service on an undeveloped plot.

Source: The advocate