Walter Ukaegbu, Abuja
Abuja residents have continued to avoid attending churches, despite the lifting of the lockdown on religious houses by the authorities. Over the weekend, most churches visited had few worshippers in attendance, while most people avoided attendance entirely.
Their refusal to attend was believed to have been as a result of the rising cases of the COVID-19 pandemic in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT). As a result, the Federal Government threatened to embark on another lockdown if people failed to obey instructions.
At the various market places, residents of the FCT are seen not obeying the simple COVID-19 guidelines of using facemasks or washing their hands regularly or distance keeping.
The same scenario was witnessed at the banks where residents also crowded the ATM points in their bid to withdraw money. At Maraba mobile checkpoints some security agencies enforced the wearing of masks.
A visit to St. Charles Methodist Church Kurudu, Jikwoyi Abuja, Daily Sun correspondent observed that service took place with the church authorities providing buckets of water with sanitizers at the different entrances for worshippers before entering the church, just as they enforced the compulsory wearing of facemasks. The Parish head, Reverend John Eke, ensured that worshippers spaced out in the church during the service.
At the Redeemed Christian Church of God Possibility Parish, Kurudu, Abuja, services went on but the attendance was short of what it used to be. Its car park was almost empty. On why she refused to attend church, 50-year-old Alice Ogun, explained that the instruction from Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) was that people within the ages of 50-60 years should not bother to attend church services since they stand more risk contracting the virus.