Bakare, during an online sermon on Sunday, queried the decision to reopen the worship centres when the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) said that the COVID-19 pandemic would peak in Nigeria in August.
The cleric advised worshippers not to allow any religious leader or government official to lead them like sheep to the slaughter house.
He said, “I have to appeal to you once again, please keep safe and do your best to stay alive. Do not let anyone, whether religious leader or governmental leader, to drive you like a sheep to the slaughter.
“If they (the government and the disease control authorities) said that the month of August is going to be the peak of the infection, why should they ask people to rush in (re-open the churches) again?
“Please keep safe and do your best to keep alive by keeping all the necessary rules. We know that by the grace of God this pandemic like the others before it has an expiry date. It shall not see our end. We shall see its end in the mighty name of Jesus.”
Bakare said that the state government might have caved in to pressure from religious leaders to lift the ban it earlier placed on religious gatherings.
The pastor said that even though the government had the right to shut the churches, it does not have the right to force christians to re-open the worship centres.
Meanwhile, the General overseer of living faith ministries, Bishop David Oyedepo had threatened that ‘fire will fall’ if churches are shut down again in Nigeria.
