POLICE in Lagos State have arrested six members of a church in the Ogba area of the state after they repeatedly kept local resident awake with their prayers during worship and ignored several warnings to desist.  

As part of the ongoing clampdown on noise pollution across the state, the Lagos State Police Command decoded to swoop and arrest the worshipers at the church on Olaomibiyi Street in the Ogba district of the Lagos metropolis. Arrested while their service was going on, the six church members arrested have been identified as – Ngozichukwu Onyebuchi, 44; Clement Eromosele, 26; Chukwudi Akwegbu, 26; Chibuzor Chukwu, 18; Godspower Enudi, 21 and Okorie Livonus, 36. 

They have since been arraigned before the Lagos Magistrate’s Court sitting in Ogba accused of converting a residential apartment into a church. According to the landlord of the building and local residents, the defendants gathered to worship regularly and caused noise pollution whenever they prayed. 

Despite repeated appeals for the worshippers to lower their voices, the church members refused to heed the warnings. As a result, the local people decided to report them to the police at the Pen Cinema Division, who subsequently arrested six members during a Sunday service, while the others are said to be at large. 

They were brought before Chief Magistrate Akanni, on two counts of engaging in a conduct capable of causing a breach of the peace. Their offence, according to a police prosecutor, Inspector Clifford Ogu, is punishable under sections 410 and 166 (1) (d) of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, Nigeria, 2011. 

The charges read, “That you, Ngozichukwu Onyebuchi, Clement Eromosele, Chukwudi Akwegbu, Chibuzor Chukwu, Godspower Enudi and Okorie Livonus, and others still at large on Olaomibiyi Street, Ogba, Lagos, on January 14, 2016, at about 8am in the Lagos Magisterial District, did conspire to commit felony to wit: conduct likely to cause a breach of the peace. That you and others still at large on the same date, time and place, in the aforementioned magisterial district, did unlawfully convert the residential apartment of the aforementioned house to a church and disturb peace of the landlord and other tenants as you were praying on top of your voice, thereby committing an offence punishable under Section 166 (1) (d) of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, Nigeria, 2011.”

All the accused, however, pleaded not guilty to the charges and elected for a summary trial. Magistrate Akanni, admitted them to bail in the sum of N50,000 (£172.50) each with two sureties each in like sum and adjourned the case until February 15.