Apostle Johnson Suleman has denied ordering Christians to kill Muslims insisting that he is an advocate of peace.
The religious cleric who is the founder of Omega Fire Ministries Worldwide spoke on the heels of the attempted arrest by operatives of the Department of State Service in Ado Ekiti where he was eventually taken away by Governor Ayodele Fayose.
Daily Post reports that Suleman insisted that he did not order Christians to go after Muslims but that they should defend themselves when under attack from killer herdsmen.
He spoke on Wednesday, January 25 where he said his statement was misinterpreted and that it was sinful for any man to order the killing of another person.
He said: “They said I preached in Auchi two weeks ago which they said implied that I was instigating Christians against Muslims . I have always been an advocate of peace and I can’t stay around and be saying such. There widows, orphans we take care of . No leader will see his shepherd being killed and be happy.
“Later, I got anonymous calls from Fulani Herdsmen about what I said. What I said was that, if gunmen came around church to attack churches, you must defend yourself, but if they come to pray, don’t attack. But they quoted me out of context. I am not stupid, I live among the crowd and I am not senseless. Time for self defence has come. Whether you are a Muslim or Christian, someone can’t just come to your house and killed your children and you will keep quiet.
“I said the Christians must not go after them, but if they come after us, then defend yourself. This is what they twisted to mean. I am hearing different versions of the story. I was in Abuja for three days why didn’t they come after me. But now that I am in Ekiti, they wanted to lump me up with a man they think was against them. It could have been easier to pick me up in Abuja, I don’t live here.
“If this will make them to clarify what I meant, I can present the video of my preaching. A town in Aviele in Edo State , Muslims rushed into the church and chased away all church members. I have always been preaching that youths must not kill . It was even wrong for the police or security agency to be coming around me and be saying I preached that I said Christians should kill Muslims without any verifiable facts.
Apostle Suleman insists he is a man of peace
“The only thing I am seeing is that we must learn how to investigate. I am not happy because of the way Christian community have been reacting. They are even saying they will protests abroad in all Nigerian embassies. I will never be alive and see Christians destroying property of Muslims because there will be problem.
“If they had called me and say I should tone down what I said, I would have gone back to do that. I have never been invited, but if I am invited I will come but that will be at my own time. I was not stopped from preaching.
“This Kaduna crisis confirmed that there was a deliberate attempt to frustrate Christians. The National Assembly must not fold their arms and see this happen. But I have no grudge against Buhari or DSS. They are only doing their job, but the DSS did it wrongly.”
