The Ekiti State Governor, Ayodele Fayose, early his morning prevented the operatives of the Department of State Services from arresting the Founder of The Omega Fire Ministries Worldwide, Apostle Johnson Suleiman, in Ado Ekiti.
The Pastor, who is in Ekiti for a two-day crusade that began on Tuesday, was alleged to have been preaching against Islamising Nigeria and asked members of his church in Auchi, Edo State to resist the killings by criminals suspected to be Fulani herdsmen, who he alleged of targeting Christians for decimation, Punch Reports.
Fayose, who had participated in the first day of the programme, received a distress call from the pastor after paying a courtesy call to the Government House.
It was learnt that the operatives of the DSS stormed the hotel room of the pastor in Adebayo area of the State capital and almost forced their way to his room.
They were, however, resisted by security men of the hotel that insisted on knowing their mission.
Minutes later, Fayose led a rescue mission to the hotel and saved the pastor from being arrested by the operatives.
Narrating his ordeal to journalists around 2am on Wednesday, Suleiman said,
“I came to Ado Ekiti for a crusade. But I had a premonition that I was being trailed after I preached that Christians should retaliate any attack or killings by the Fulani herdsmen. These Fulani herdsmen had turned many Christians to orphans and widowers but the time has come to protect ourselves.
“I received several calls from hidden numbers trying to locate where I am and I had warned my security not to allow any Fulani man to come nearer me. So when the men of DSS came in the middle of the night I knew their mission and I had to call the Governor because if they arrest me, they will put this country on fire.”
Fayose, who criticised the DSS for ambushing a man of God on crusade, said he expected the security agency to show decorum.
“I expected the security operatives to invite him if they have any issue with him instead of arresting him in the dead of the night after a powerful and spirit-filled crusade in my State.
“I personally attended his crusade and I think it is wrong for a man of God, who is armless, that could be invited to be ambushed. If they have any issue against him. Are Christians and Moslems under different dispensation of the rule of law?. That’s why I went there to rescue him. Let them kill two of us together. But when they saw my vehicles and the crowd, they fled.
“But we have information that instructions came from DSS in Abuja that the Pastor should be arrested. We are not in a fascist state, Federal Government must learn to respect the rights of Nigerians and freedom of expression.”
The governor expressed concerns that the Federal Government was championing a cause to harass clergymen in the country noting that the General Overseer of Redeemed Christian Church of God, Pastor Enoch Adeboye, was harassed and forced to resign shortly after he visited him in Ado Ekiti.
“This is unacceptable. We are in a democracy and Nigerians should warn the Presidency against putting this country on fire because religion is an emotional thing,” he said.
Fayose also warned security operatives against intimidation and arrest of men of God in the interest of peace and religious harmony in the country because “the constitution guarantees freedom of worship”.
