The Love World International church, commonly known as Christ Embassy, founded by Nigerian preacher and author Chris Oyakhilome, has suffered a major setback after a fire razed both the administrative block and the main auditorium of the church headquarters, in Oregun, Lagos State on Sunday, 23 June.
The Vanguard reported that the fire, whose cause was yet to be ascertained, completely razed the ground floor of the church, leaving it in ruins.
However, unconfirmed reports blamed the inferno on a power surge from the electrical appliances.
The fire broke out around 7 AM when church workers and other members of the church were preparing for the Sunday service.
The fire was eventually put out around 3:10 PM but by then, worshippers could no longer hold their service at the church auditorium.
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One of the members of the church identified as Chinonso was reported as saying they learnt about the fire through social media. He said:
I thank God that nobody was in the church when the incident started. We were informed about the incident at another branch of the church at Toyin Street, Ikeja during the service.
We saw the building of our headquarters on fire on social media. We cried but yet give thanks to God that nobody died or was injured.
Another member, Onyinyechi Elizabeth, said the blaze was not an ordinary fire, adding:
It was a spiritual attack. We could not believe that this incident would happen to this place. It is an enemy at work. Why has it not happened all this while? It is to cause a setback. This is a great loss.
One of the passersby and a member of the Household of God, Henry Egbuna, said:
When I saw the fire in the morning, I thought it was a tyre that was burning. Surprisingly, I saw firefighters who came to the scene of the incident.
But some people from the church prevented them from gaining entrance to the church. They then went through another entrance which was an event centre beside the church with a ladder to gain entrance to the church.
The President of Christ Embassy, Reverend Chris Oyakhilome, urged members of the church not to worry over the incident. He said:
We built that with what we know, imagine what we are going to do with what we know now. When things like this happen do not be moved.
When something like this happens, God gives us an opportunity to build a better one and a more beautiful one.
We must look at life from the spiritual, this is not an accident. We are going to do something better
The General Manager, Lagos State Emergency Management Agency, LASEMA, Oluwafemi Oke-Osanyintolu said:
When the emergency responders came on board, we were able to curtail the fire and we tried our best to address the secondary challenges such as structural defects and evacuations.
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Interestingly, there have been no casualties or injuries despite the massive fire, and efforts are being made to completely extinguish it.
With the cooperation of the community, we have been able to curtail the major incident from escalating further than necessary.
We were able to respond on time and prompt action to ensure that casualties are not recorded and we were able to prevent the fire from spreading to adjacent buildings.
The Lagos State Government said it had initiated investigations into the cause of the fire. Director, Lagos Fire and Rescue Service, Margaret Adeseye, said:
This is to tell Lagosians to be calm. The fire at Christ Embassy’s Church, Headquarters, Alausa, Ikeja, was later put out.
As of the time of this report, no record of life lost. We are on ground ensuring safety of lives and property. The cause of the fire has not yet been determined, and investigations are underway to ascertain its origin.
No casualties have been reported at this time. Updates will be provided as more information becomes available.
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