The cleric was whisked away on Friday, 23 August 2024
Martins Owoseni
Zimbabwean Bishop Eben Nhiwatiwa of the United Methodist Church (UMC) has reportedly been detained by Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS).
Bishop Nhiwatiwa reportedly arrived in Nigeria on August 21, 2024, to oversee the election of a new bishop for the Nigerian chapter of the church, following the resignation of Bishop John Wesley Yohanna.
However, during a meeting with church members in Yola, Adamawa State, on Friday, August 23, 2024, Bishop Nhiwatiwa was reportedly taken into custody by Nigerian immigration officers.
After several hours of detention at the Yola Immigration office, he was confined to his hotel under immigration guard before being transferred to the country’s capital Abuja on August 24, 2024, where he is currently being held at the Immigration Headquarters.
A statement from the chuch signed by a pastor, Salisu Waziri on Sunday, said: “Bishop Nhiwatiwa arrived Yola Town, Adamawa State, venue for the first meeting with the members of the Southern Nigerian Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church in Nigeria but was on Friday 23 August 2024, whisked away at the venue of the meeting by Nigerian Immigration Service, Adamawa State Command, for questioning.
“After several hours of detention in the Yola Immigration office, Bishop Nhiwatiwa was later confined to his hotel with guards before being taken to Abuja on Saturday 24 August 2024 in company of an Immigration officer to the Immigration Headquarters in Abuja Nigeria’s capital where he is currently detained.”
A journalist with Voice of Nigeria (VON), Salisu Waziri, who is also a member of the church and was assigned by the church leadership to receive the bishop at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja, stated that he accompanied the cleric to the immigration headquarters in Abuja, where he had a chat with the immigration officer that brought the bishop to Abuja.
According to him, as quoted by local news agency, TG News, an immigration officer identified as Mr. Mathias Madug, told him during the chat that the Yola immigration office had interrogated Bishop Nhiwatiwa and found nothing wrong with his documents but wondered why they would send him back to Abuja for further questioning.
“At the immigration office in Yola, we interrogated this bishop and all his papers are intact. I wonder why they will have to send him back to the immigration headquarters in Abuja for further questioning,” the officer said.
“His visa was processed here in Abuja. I think if there is anything wrong with his documents, just a call from Yola to Abuja would have clarified the issue.
“Well, I know there’s something wrong at the top because I learned that the other faction of the church went to the immigration headquarters in Abuja to file complaint against the bishop.
“It is likely they are the ones that paid for our flight tickets 260,000 and 130,000 each. I was just sitting, relaxing and my boss said I will be going to Abuja with bishop and here we are,” the officer reportedly narrated.
The VON reporter further stated that when they got to the immigration headquarters in Abuja at about 8 pm, there were no senior officials to attend to the immigration officer from Yola and the bishop as all offices had closed.
“Only few Immigration security officers were seen at their duty post,” Waziri said.
It was also alleged that Bishop Nhiwatiwa was denied access to his drugs and luggage from Yola Immigration Office, and was later checked into the immigration headquarters guest house to wait for further directives from the Yola office or Abuja headquarters.
According to the report, there are suspicions that a former Bishop of the United Methodist Church in Nigeria who joined a new denomination Global Methodist Church (GMC) is behind the ordeal of the Bishop Nhiwatiwa.
It was suspected that it could be part of a ploy to frustrate the effort of the UMC from electing a new bishop in Nigeria to replace him and convert the properties of the United Methodist Church in Nigeria to GMC Church.
The spokesman for the Nigeria Immigration Service, Mr Kenneth Udo, said he was not aware of the incident but would find out about it.
“I don’t have any knowledge of the incident. But currently I am not in Abuja, but I will find out what the issue is all about and get back to you,” he told investigative news outlet, Sahara Reporters.
However, he had yet to get back with any information.
The Taraba State Government reportedly closed all the branches of the church spread across the state in a bid to prevent breakdown of law and order among the members who are at the time of filing this report, struggling to take control of the church property, according to the Special Adviser to the Governor on Security Matters, Charles Maijankai.
It was alleged that there are plans to use security operatives to arrest more members of the church, including pastors.