Lagos govt shuts down Lord’s Chosen Church

By OLUWOLE FAROTIMI
For allegedly defacing and constituting
environmental nuisance to its built environment,
the Lagos State Government has shut down the
headquarters of the Lord’s Chosen and
Charismatic Revival Church located in Ijesha on
Oshodi-Apapa Expressway in Lagos.

It was gathered that officials of the Ministry of
the Environment shut down the church and
prevented the worshippers from having their
service usually attended by thousands of
Chosen’s faithful. Our correspondent also
gathered that the state government was miffed
by the way the church had been defacing and
degrading the environment and refusing to
abate the nuisance even after it had been
served abatement notice to upgrade the
environment in the area.
To avert further abuse of its environment, the
officials of the environment ministry,
accompanied by police officers went to the
church on Sunday morning and shut down the
church, pending when the authorities of the
church will abate the nuisance in their
environment.
Confirming the closure, the Commissioner for
the Environment, Mr. Tunji Bello, said the
church had committed lots of environmental
abuse which it must abate before the massive
edifice could be re-opened by the government.
He said such illegality could not be tolerated by
the state government, adding that the church
did not have proper waste management system.
Bello also said the church cultivated the habit of
burning its refuse inside the church, an action
which ran foul of the environmental and
sanitation law of the state. He said the church
despite its gigantic size, did not have toilets and
waste disposal facilities as they empty their
excreta into the drainage channel and built
attachments on the drainage channel. The
commissioner said the church, founded by
Pastor Lazarus Mouka, who serves as the
General Overseer of the Charismatic Revival
Movement, does not have proper sanitary
system , adding that they discharge their wastes
into the canal.