Pastor Uche Aigbe of House on the Rock Cathedral in Abuja has been arrested by the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Police Command for unlawful possession of a firearm.
According to the Federal Capital Territory’s spokesperson, Josephine Adeh, he was arrested alongside the Church’s Chief Security Officer and one Inspector Musa Audu.
In a viral video posted on Sunday, the cleric was seen brandishing an assault rifle during a church service.
The pastor was arrested late Monday after police launched an investigation into the incident.
“The pastor whose message and demonstrations were tagged inciting by various media and social media users was arrested in the early hours of Monday 13th February 2023, along side the Church Chief Security Officer and one Inspector Musa Audu, who was on duty on the said day and had unprofessionally released his rifle to the said pastor without permission or recourse to police authority.
“While discrete investigation has commenced, members of the public are urged to shun actions or utterances that is in breach of extant laws as the law is trite and all violators will be adequately sanctioned,” the police stated.
House of the Rock issues statement
Meanwhile, the church said in a statement on Monday that the pastor preached about fighting the good fight with spiritual weapons and carried “an unloaded gun” to demonstrate his message about “Guarding your Faith.”
According to House On The Rock, Uche has been a leader in the church since 1999 and has always demonstrated exemplary leadership.
“However, even with the best of intentions, he realizes that carrying a gun to illustrate his message was ill-advised and regrettable,” the statement said.
“Without hesitation, Pastor Uche has acknowledged the gravity of his actions and apologized unequivocally for them.
“As a church, House On The Rock rejects all forms of violence and we stand on the good news gospel of Jesus Christ which embraces peace and goodwill for all of mankind.
“We are cooperating fully with the authorities as they carry out their investigations into this incident, and we will continue to engage internally to ensure this break in protocol does not happen again.”
