Blind Protesters Disrupt Church Service

A mild drama ensued in Eruwen community, Ikorodu, Lagos when protesting members of the Nigeria Association of the Blind (NAB) disrupted services at the Christ Apostolic Church, Jesus Saves Assembly, to protest occupation of a plot of land belonging to the president of the association.

There was commotion as members of the congregation fled for safety, thinking the protesters were robbers.

P.M.NEWS gathered that the land where the church was built was initially sold to Mr. David Okon, President of NAB by the owners of the land before it was sold to the pastor of the church, Pastor Michael Basorun, by a land speculator.

The Baale of the community confirmed that Mr. Okon was the real owner of the land.

He said Okon’s receipt was given to him by the immediate past Baale, adding that the land speculator, identified as Owolabi, resold the land to a representative of the church.

Baale further claimed that Okon purchased the land in 2004 while Pastor Bashorun bought the same land in 2010 from an agent of the land speculator.

He appealed to both parties to exercise restraint and assured that the matter would be resolved amicably.

The owners of the land, the Jaiyesimi Family of Ikorodu also claimed that the land in question was sold to Okon and not Pastor Bashorun.

Investigations revealed that Owolabi whose mother is from the Jaiyesinmi Family sold the land to the pastor through an agent.

When Okon insisted that his money must be refunded, he was paid N400,000 as against N1.3 million generated from the sale of the land.

Okon alleged that he made frantic efforts to contact Pastor Bashorun for his balance but he ignored his calls and text messages.

“As a result, I had to lead my members to disrupt activities of the church to get my balance,” he said.

He condemned the attempt to cheat him because of his disability and vowed to prove that not all blind people are stupid and can be cheated.

The crisis lasted for more than eight hours before policemen from Igbogbo division intervened and restored order.

—Ibrahim Bakare