By IFEOMA IKEM
It was like a theatre of the absurd at an Ikeja Magistrate Court on Tuesday, when a 40-year-old Muslim cleric, Saheed Gbadamosi, was arraigned for allegedly destroying a church and threatened to bathe the pastor with acid.
National Daily gathered that the accused, a resident of Aboru, in Iyana-Ipaja area, is being tried for breach of peace, assault and threat to life.
The prosecutor, Inspector George Nwosu, said that the accused committed the offences on September 4 at his residence.
He told the court that Saheed conspired with others still at large and stormed the defendant’s church armed with different types of dangerous weapons, beat up the pastor identified as Emmanuel Ugbo, destroying the church’s properties and threatened to pour acid on him.
It was learnt that the accused and his accomplices beat up the complainant and damaged four chairs valued at N4,000 and music mixer valued at N35,000 being church property respectively.
The accused and others were said to have also threatened to bathe him with acid if he refused to stop converting his ‘clients’ to his church.
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Nwosu said the accused stormed the complainant’s church with hoodlums and attacked the complainant.
“The complainant was in the fellowship with his members when the accused stormed the church with hoodlums carrying iron rods, sticks and other dangerous weapons.
“The accused obstructed the complainant from performing his duty as a pastor by chasing away all his members before descending on him,” he told the court.
The accused pleaded not guilty to the charges against him.
The offences contravened Sections 56, 166, 170 and 348 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2011 which predispose him to a minimum of three years imprisonment upon conviction.
The Magistrate, Mr A.A. Adesanya, granted the accused bail in the sum of N100,000 with two sureties in like sum and adjourned the case to October 10 for mention.