On Wednesday, the Celestial Church of Christ (CCC) in Kaduna denied the allegation that a 21-year-old man, who died during construction work for the church, was used for rituals.
The church disclosed that Friday’s death was an accident as it was not the first time he was working for the church.
The parish of the Celestial church at Bayan Dutse, a suburb of Kaduna metropolis and the police station in the area were on March 21 burnt down by protesting youths on the allegations that the church had a hand in Friday’s death.
But addressing journalists yesterday, Head, Province, Kaduna State, Evangelist Sam Atolagbe, explained that it was not the first time the church would engage the services of the deceased in its effort to prevent perennial erosion to overrun part of the church.
Atolagbe said the death was an accident and not spiritual as claimed by some people in the community who set the church ablaze.
He said: “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 Babatunde Shittu, of being responsible for the death of the boy.
“The shepherd has served in the vineyard of the Lord for over 20 years being a role model and a spiritual leader, having raised faithful disciples for Jesus Christ and still serving.
“Over the past four years, part of the church land has been lost due to water erosion and efforts have been made to recover the eroded land which normally involves the shepherd engaging some of the youth of the community to carry out mini-construction work to barricade the portion where the erosion is less severe.
“We reiterate that what happened on that day was an accident and by no means ritual. The church separates itself wholly from any kind of diabolical activity based on the church’s doctrine and tenets.”
However, as at the time of filing this report, the pastor, Babatunde Shittu, was still in protective custody with the Criminal Investigations Department of the Kaduna State Police Command.
This is also as the Kaduna State government has promised to launch an investigation into Friday’s death.
