A pastor and nine of his church members have been arrested for allegedly stoning a 25-year-old traditional worshipper, Agboola Akeem, to death during a clash in Lagos State.
The pastor identified as Mercy Okoch, 50, of Truth and The Spirit Prophetic Church in Lagos state was said to have gotten into a fight with Akeem at about 6pm on Tuesday August 23.
It was gathered that the traditional worshippers were celebrating their Oro festival while the church members were having a church service.
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The traditional worshippers allegedly invaded the church premises and asked the church members to discontinue their service.
Oro Festival is an annual traditional festival only celebrated by male descendants who are paternal natives to the specific locations where the event is taking place. During the festival, females, and non-natives are mandated to stay indoors as oral history has it that Orò must not be seen by women and non-participating people .
Quarrel ensued between the traditional worshippers and the church members which degenerated into a fight.
The fight led to the death of one of the traditional worshippers.
This caused a rage among the other traditional worshippers who vowed to burn down the church.
However, Officers attached to the Oko Oba Police Division stormed the church premises following a distress call that the church, located at Number 2 Sanni Taiwo Lawal Street in Oko Oba, was about to be set ablaze.
The police were able to quell the tension and evacuated the body of the deceased and deposited it in the morgue while the pastor and nine members of the church were taken into police custody.
