House on the Rock Church has finally reacted to the ordeal of its Presiding Pastor, Uche Aigbe, who brought an AK-47 to the pulpit while preaching on Sunday in Abuja.
The church in a statement on Monday evening, said Aigbe had been a pastor in the church since 1999 and had always shown exemplary leadership.
Explaining that the pastor was trying to illustrate the message he was preaching on ‘Fighting the good fight of faith’, the Church however said the gun was not loaded, adding that it did not support any form of violence and would cooperate with the authorities throughout the investigation into the matter.
The statement read partly, “Pastor Uche has been a leader in House On The Rock since 1999 and has always shown exemplary leadership. However, even with the best of intentions, he realises that carrying a gun to illustrate the message was ill-advised and regrettable.”
“Without hesitation Pastor Uche has acknowledged the gravity of his actions and apologises unreservedly for them.
“As a church House On The Rock rejects all forms of violence and we stand in the good news gospel of Jesus Christ which embraces peace and goodwill for all mankind.
“We are cooperating fully with the authorities as they carry out their investigations into the incident, and we will continue to engage internally to ensure this break in protocol does not happen again.”
Aigbe along with Inspector Musa Audu, the police officer who handed his rifle over to the pastor, had been detained by the Intelligence Response Team, Force Intelligence Bureau, Garki, Abuja.
It was also gathered that Inspector Audu would be facing an orderly room trial, just as the Commissioner of Police, Federal Capital Territory Command, Sadiq Abubakar, had recommended to the Inspector-General of Police, Usman Baba, to dismiss the police officer
Aigbe had caused a stir on Sunday when he mounted the pulpit carrying an AK 47 rifle during the Church’s second service, which frequently has a high turnout of people who come from different parts of the FCT.
