A Sierra Leone-based Nigerian pastor Victor Ajisafe has been arrested by authorities after recordings of a sermon targeting Muslims went viral on social media.
Ajisafe, who is the founder and President of the Sanctuary Praise Church had said Islam is a “violent religion of lies and deceit” adding that Muslims have been responsible for every terrorist act in the world.
Ajisafe who was speaking to his congregation last weekend was reacting to an alleged claim made by a prominent Islamic scholar and Grand Mufti of Zimbabwe, Mufti Ismail Menk over alleged claims that Sierra Leone is an Islamic state.
Sierraloaded reports that Menk was in Freetown on a two-day visit between September 21 & 23 on the invitation of the Foundation of Islamic Information Sierra Leone (FOISIL).
Menk spoke at a stadium last week Friday and at the Freetown Central Mosque in Rokupa. Menk also visited President Ernest Bai Koroma telling him that part of the reasons why he has visited the country was to sympathize with the victims of the August 14th mudslide.
Ajisafe described Menk as a “wolf in sheep’s cotton. An angel of darkness showing himself as an angel of light to deceive and to lure people into lies.”
His sermon sparked widespread outrage from Christians and Muslims and members of the country’s inter religious council have also condemned the speech.
Ajisafe was arrested last Tuesday, according to Guardian, and all six branches of his church have been closed indefinitely.
MB Kamara, head of Sierra Leone’s criminal investigations department said: “Everyone is very upset by his message. We are a very religiously tolerant country and no one ever worries whether someone is Muslim or Christian. We all have lived peacefully for generations, and no one wants that disrupted.”
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