National Telescope national telescope newspaper
Chibuzor Alli (Southeast Editor)
The Household of David church in Surulere Street, Adeniyi Jones in the Ikeja area of Lagos State, on Wednesday, suffered a significant loss as its spacious and expensive church auditorium was consumed by fire.
According to a statement made by the Lagos State Fire Service spokesperson, Amodu Shakiri, in an interview with Punch, has determined that the cause of the fire was due to overheating in the ceiling of the church auditorium, which led to its collapse and subsequent ignition of the fire.
Shakira, mentioned during the incident that the church’s interior decorations and the main worship area, referred to as the auditorium, were among the items affected by the fire damage alongside the church’s belongings in general while highlighting the presence of various emergency services such as the Lagos State Fire and Rescue Service’s Alausa and Ikeja Fire Stations, LASAMBUS, LASEMA, and Red Cross at the scene.
He said, “The fire was however made to confine within the church’s auditorium it started from while salvaging adjoining properties. The relevant agencies involved were the Lagos State Fire and Rescue Service, Alausa and Ikeja fire stations, LASAMBUS, LASEMA, and the Red Cross. The property involved in the destruction of the fire included the auditorium and church-hold items.
However, the Senior Pastor of Household of David, Olusola Osunmakinde expressed deep sadness through an Instagram video following the unfortunate incident. He stated, “This is a heartbreaking situation.”
The pastor added that a passerby made fun of him saying, “Where was Jesus when it happened”?
Osunmakinde further mentioned that the church’s air conditioners, chairs, and other equipment were all burnt.
He said, “As we know, ‘Mercy Conference’ starts today, but something happened that I just want to put a message out there to people. I came here this morning, everybody was setting up, and everything was going fine. All of a sudden, we started hearing that there was fire and something up there on the roof of the church. I know there will be reactions, and people will say that and that, but that is none of my concern now.
“The most important thing is this, we thank God no life was lost and we thank God for everything. We are not too discouraged but we believe in God that we will still go on with the conference.
“It is a painful experience no doubt, even someone walked into the compound mocking, saying, ‘Where is Jesus when this happened?’ We don’t owe people an answer, all we believe is that all things work together. We will not back out because of this but by the grace of God, all things work together for good.”
