This is because the entire community had watched with utter astonishment as the pastor and members of the Church indulge in bizarre style of worship.
The pastors and their flock had allegedly gone round the community, including the Nkwo market square preaching that there is nothing wrong in men having sexual intercourse with fellow men, even in the open.
Aside that, the church members had, while mounting the rostrum, preached that any man was free to take another person's wife to bed, provided the woman gave her consent.
To crown it all, the community has been embarrassed by the mode of dressing of the church members. They say male members of the church dress in women’s attires such as skirts, blouses, ear rings and wigs, while their female counterparts wear men’s attires.
The church, it was further learnt, encourages members to go on a drinking spree, and worship all through the night, beginning from evening till day break (TDB).
Not comfortable with the situation, women in the area had staged a protest at the church warning the congregation against what they called obnoxious religious worship. According to them, the practice is capable of promoting sexual promiscuity, particularly among the youths in the area.
As the congregation ignored the women's warning and allegedly continued with their preaching mode, which attracted more members on a daily basis, the women marched to the church premises, demolished the entire structure and ordered the members to leave the area.
A visit to the community during the week, National LIFE learnt that members of the church might have ignored the quit notice issued them by the community, as they have since regrouped, and even making plans to rebuild their demolished church building.
Now the battle line seems to have been drawn between the worshippers and their host community.
As at the time of filing this report, the church members had started moulding blocks in readiness to rebuild the church, even as they spread tarpaulin over the demolished structure to provide shelter for their normal practice.
At the Church premises last Tuesday, National LIFE sighted a members sitting under the tarpaulin quietly. None of them was willing to be drawn into any dialogue.
By Wednesday afternoon, no member of the church was around, as the entire premises was deserted. However, a neighbour who spoke to National LIFE on anonymous condition, said they usually gathered during evening hours anyday they want to worship and remained till the next day.
When contacted, a member of the church who identified himself as Silas Nwafor, a petty trader at the Nkwo Market, Umunze, said he is an ordinary member of the church. According to him, he is not competent to comment on the matter without first obtaining clearance from their pastor who he said lives in Aba, Abia State.
Nwafor, however, promised to contact their pastor and get back to our reporter. He never did! Another worshipper complained that the church is not in need of publicity.
Yet members of the community complained that an indigene of the community who lives in Aba brought the church to the area, adding that the land on which the church was built was equally procured from an indigene of the community.
Lady Okeke, wife of former chairman of Orumba South Council Area, late Chief Emma Okeke (Ide Umune), confirmed the incident but declined further comments.
A community leader from Lomu village, who simply identified himself as Dr. Uduwa, a traditional medical practitioner, said the mistake the church members made was to have come out openly to make such promiscuous pronouncements.
Uduwa said it is obvious that some other churches might be committing similar atrocities but they do not come out openly to preach it in order not to incur the wrath of the law or the people.
"Some churches or societies commit all sorts of atrocities to the extent that they even kill for rituals but they hide it under their roof. But here, this members of this church make a big mistake of coming to Nkwo market to tell the people that there is nothing wrong in having sexual relationship with peoples’ wives and all sorts of things," Uduwa lamented.
He feared that young people might be taken in by their preachments.
The women group led by Madam Agnes Mgboyibo had demonstrated within the community against the existence of the "Skirt Church". The protesters reportedly carried their anger to the palace of the traditional ruler, Igwe Promise Eze.
Igwe Promise Eze on his part condemned the congregation’s pattern of worship. The monarch contended that though the protests and demolition were carried out by the women, the entire community will not condone the promotion of sexual promiscuity in the town. Therefore, he said the Church should relocate elsewhere if they want to continue to preach such messages.
The Divisional Police Officer (DPO) at Umunze, Mr. Mohammed Zannah who confirmed the demolition of the church, however said he was in far away Saudi Arabia for this year's Hajj when the incident took place. He emphasized that there was no loss of life during the encounter...
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