The Police Command in Cross River has intervened in a leadership dispute at the Chapel of Redemption, University of Calabar (UNICAL), halting a Sunday service to prevent a possible breakdown of law and order.
The crisis began when the university’s caretaker committee and an interim chaplain appointed by the Vice-Chancellor attempted to take control of the service being conducted by the chapel’s Chaplain, Rev. Joseph Ushie.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the development caused confusion among worshippers and prompted the police to stop the service.
DCP Godwin Etim of the state command told newsmen that he ordered the suspension of the service after assessing the level of tension at the chapel.
“There is palpable tension, and with what I see here, if I allow the service to continue, it will lead to bloodshed in this church,” he said.
Etim said he met with the chaplain, the interim chaplain and a member of the church’s Board of Trustees, after which they agreed to suspend the service to prevent a breakdown of law and order.
He added that the command had invited the parties to a meeting on Monday and urged them to remain calm while efforts were made to resolve the dispute.
NAN recalls that a subsisting order of the Federal High Court in Port Harcourt restrained the university’s Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Offiong Offiong, and persons acting through him from interfering with the chapel’s premises and activities.
Ushie had instituted the suit against the Vice-Chancellor, the university Registrar, Dr Chukwuka Icha, and three others through his counsel, Chief Mba Ukweni, SAN.
The chaplain, as the applicant, filed a Motion Ex Parte seeking an order restraining the defendants from intimidating, threatening or assaulting him while exercising his right to worship at the chapel.
Following submissions by his counsel, Justice Phoebe Ayuba granted an injunction restraining the respondents, or anyone acting through them, from interfering with the chapel’s premises and activities.
The court also ordered the parties to maintain the status quo ante bellum pending the hearing and determination of the substantive application scheduled for Aug. 20.
source:NAN
