The founder of Omega Fire Ministries Worldwide, Apostle Johnson Suleman, has denied instructing Christians during a preaching to go after Muslims.
Describing the report as not only senseless but malicious, he said his statements were misconstrued to incite the people.
According to him, he only stressed the need for the church to defend itself against invasion by gunmen and not a direct incendiary comment that could make Christians and Muslims to confront one another.
This is as Ekiti State Governor, Ayodele Fayose, cautioned the All Progressives Congress-led Federal Government to be mindful on how it handles issues bordering on religion in the country so as not to throw the country into religious crisis.
The governor had in the early hours of Wednesday foiled an attempt by the Department of State Services to arrest Suleiman in his hotel room in Adebayo area of the state for alleged inflammatory remarks.
He described the attempt as uncalled for and clear invitation to chaos.
Speaking in Ado Ekiti on Wednesday on the contentious issue, Suleman while debunking the report linking him to inflammatory remarks said it was sinful for anyone to order a fellow man to kill another.
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 are 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 kill 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.
