wfn.org | Adventist Church Building Bulldozed in Nigeria

[APD_Info_Schweiz@compuserve.com]

November 19, 2000
Adventist Press Service (APD)
Christian B. Schaeffler, Editor-in-chief
CH-4003 Basel, Switzerland
Fax +41-61-261 61 18
APD@stanet.ch
http://www.stanet.ch/APD

Adventist Church Building Bulldozed in Nigeria

Abuja, Nigeria.         A Seventh-day Adventist 
Church building in Abuja, Nigeria's federal capital,  
was ordered bulldozed by local government officials on 
October 12, says Joseph Ola, president of the Adventist 
Church in Nigeria.

The almost new church building, finished at the end 
of 1999, was completely demolished. "The building and 
everything inside-the pews-everything, was destroyed," 
says Ola.  "People had worshiped there the previous 
night, but the next day it was gone." 

Church leaders were told that the building was 
destroyed because county authorities "did not want any 
churches in that area [called Gariki]." 

"Many other denominations built churches in Gariki, 
and the government authority said they will drive all 
of them away from that section of the planned city," 
he says. 

"Last Saturday, some members worshiped under a tree, 
some worshiped in small groups in people's homes," says 
Ola. He adds that members meeting in private homes have 
to be careful that their singing does not violate the 
so-called "no noise" zoning regulations that restrict 
activities in residential districts. 

Yakubu Musa, president of the Adventist Church in the 
Abuja area, said earlier this week, "This is our own time 
of trouble now in Nigeria, because the people are being 
persecuted." 

"The church members are very demoralized," Ola says. 

Ola explains that although the Adventist Church in 
Abuja owns land in another part of the city, where the 
local authorities have indicated they will allow a 
Christian church, they have no money to build a new 
church building. "All that we had this year in our budget 
is what we used to buy the land," says Ola. 

Nigeria, a western African country bordering the Gulf 
of Guinea between Benin and Cameroon, has been torn by 
ongoing tension between the Muslim majority and 
Christians.  Some Nigerian states adopted Shari'a 
(Islamic law) this year, a move allowed under Nigeria's 
1999 constitution. An expansion of Shari'a in the 
northern state of Kaduna prompted religious riots in 
February this year, leaving 2,000 people dead and a 
ccontinuing uneasiness between different religious 
groups in the country.

There are approximately 450,000 Adventist Christians 
in Nigeria, including 150,000 baptized adult Church 
members, worshiping in more than 1,000 congregations.