Two clergies, who held church service last Sunday, arrested by security agents in Kaduna State, for the violation of the lockdown order in the state, were arraigned before a Chief Magistrate Court on Monday.
The Commissioner of Internal Security and Home Affairs, Samuel Aruwan, in a statement, said that one Ifeanyi Ojonu and Giniki Okafor held church services at Sabon Tasha area of Chikun Local Government, Vanguard reports.
Aruwan said the suspects were charged with ‘’Criminal Conspiracy and Disobedience to an order duly promulgated by a Public Servant, under section 59 and 115 of the Penal Code.’’
According to him, “nobody is above the law and everyone is equal in the eyes of the law.”
“The Quarantine Law will be applied without fear or favour until the lockdown is duly lifted,” he said Aruwan said some Muslim clerics held Congregational prayers on March 27th, 2020, at Unguwar Kanawa and Malali areas of Kaduna North Local Government.
‘’They were promptly arrested and subsequently arraigned before a Chief Magistrate Court on March 30th, 2020, to demonstrate Government’s determination to prosecute violators of the Quarantine Law,’’ he said.
According to him, the two accused clergymen apparently misread Government’s strong signal, as they flouted the law and disobeyed the warning of various leaders of faith, by holding church service last Sunday.
He commended religious and traditional rulers for sensitizing their followers about the dangers of COVID-19, by asking them to obey the lockdown order as a religious obligation.
The religious community, he said, had substantially complied with the lockdown as Muslim daily Congregational prayers, including Jumma’at prayers, were suspended, even as church services were also not held.
