Abuja Pentecostal Church Cries out over Proximity to Electricity Sub-station

Abuja Pentecostal Church Cries out over Proximity to Electricity Sub-station

Onyebuchi Ezigbo in Abuja

A Pentecostal Church, Power Revival Ministry in Karu, Abuja, has cried out over the danger posed by the proximity of its building to an electricity substation belonging to the Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC).

The church, whose building is located at Karu, a satellite town in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), is sandwiched in between an electricity substation.

In view of the existing danger, the church has therefore appealed to the authorities of the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) to reallocate it to another area to save its worshippers from the looming danger.

When asked the reason they were putting the lives of their worshippers at risk, the widow of the founder of the church, who is now the General Overseer of the church, Pastor Tete Evelyn Sarah, said the church had existed legally at the place before the government decided to locate the electricity substation there.

She urged the government to implement a High Court judgement delivered by Justice Sylvanus Orji, which directed it to relocate the church from its present location in Karu, Abuja, to somewhere else within the Karu vicinity.

Pastor Sarah, who spoke to THISDAY at the weekend, lamented that the grave of her husband, who died struggling to salvage the church premises, is below one the high tension wires.

The cleric said the church had earlier dragged the then Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) to an FCT High Court in a suit: FCT/HC/CV/800/2009.

According to Sarah, the court had ruled that due to overriding public interest, the church should be relocated to give way for erection of electricity substation being built under a World Bank assisted project.

She said the court ordered that they should be provided with an alternative place and adequately compensated.

However, Sarah said for seven years, the church waited to be relocated but nothing of such happened, leaving the worshipers exposed to dangers of possible electrocution and radiation from the substation.

According to her, “It is not that we are making efforts but each time we tried to reach out to the relevant authorities, it will not yield any positive result and that was how it has now gotten to seven years.

“The church approach the court in 2013 to seek justice regarding the move by the defunct PHCN to forcefully take over its land located in Karu, Abuja, for the purposes of building a new power facility within.”

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