LAGOS SHUTS DOWN LORD’S CHOSEN FOR POURING FAECES IN GUTTER

The Lagos State Government has shut down headquarters of the Lord’s Chosen and Charismatic Revival Church at Ijesha, Oshodi-Apapa Expressway, Lagos, Nigeria for constituting nuisance to the environment. The Lord’s Chosen, founded by Pastor Lazarus Mouka, was shut down on Sunday for defacing and degrading the environment and refusing to abate the nuisance even after it had been served abatement notice.

The church is attended by hundreds of worshipers every Sunday.

Commissioner for the Environment, Mr. Tunji Bello said the church had committed lots of environmental abuse which it must abate before the massive edifice could be re-opened by the government as such illegality could not be tolerated by the state government.

According to him, the church did not have proper waste management system as the church burnt its refuse inside the church, an action which ran fowl of the environmental and sanitation law of the Lagos State. He added that the Lord’s Chosen did not have toilets and waste disposal facilities as they empty their excreta into the drainage channel as well as built attachments on the drainage channel.

“The church does not have proper sanitary system and they discharge their wastes into the canal. Most of their members trade on the expressway and we don’t want that,” he stated.

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Bello added that the church would only be re-opened if it constructed new toilets as well as bagged its solid waste as well as manage such waste properly, saying that the church must build a sewage septic tank for the treatment of waste water. The commissioner stated that the church must also ensure that none of its member trade on the expressway, while the movement must remove illegal attachment built on drainage channel alignment in the area.

He said any structure to be erected by the church must be about 50 metres away from the drainage channel and ensured that the environment was kept clean, after which the government would re-open the church.