A church service at the United Methodist Church in the Durumi area of Abuja took a chaotic turn on Sunday as congregants engaged in a violent clash. The situation escalated to the point that police had to intervene, using tear gas to restore order.
The fight, which lasted for hours, caused significant damage to the property of the church. Despite initial efforts by the police to calm the situation, the violence continued until tear gas was deployed. After the conflict was brought under control, the police locked the church, dismissed the congregation, and took several church elders to the station for questioning.
A church member, who spoke on condition of anonymity, revealed that the violence stemmed from an ongoing dispute among the church elders over whether to sever ties with their headquarters in the United States. The headquarters had reportedly legalized practices that some elders felt were incompatible with Nigerian culture, leading to deep divisions within the congregation.
The member explained, “Our headquarters is in America, and they have legalized some practices that are not part of our culture. Some elders wanted us to pull out and give the church a new name, but others opposed the move. This disagreement created factions in the church. They even considered going to court at one point, but I don’t know why they didn’t.”
According to the member, the conflict reached a breaking point during the service when the pastor announced plans to take the matter to court and expressed his desire for the church to remain aligned with the U.S. headquarters.
“That announcement sparked the fight,” the member said.
The member concluded, “I have never seen anything like it before. The fight was so intense that the police couldn’t stop it until they fired tear gas. Some of the elders were taken to the station afterward.”
Confirming the incident, the spokesperson for the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Police Command, Josephine Adeh, said that the Commissioner of Police, Bennett Igweh, had invited all the church elders to his office for a meeting on Monday.
“The CP has invited all the church elders to come to the command by 10 a.m. tomorrow,” Adeh stated.