Police arrest Nigerian pastor who brought AK 47 to church

Pastor Uche Aigbe of the House on the Rock Church, Abuja. [Picture, Nigeria Times]

A Nigerian pastor has been arrested for carrying an AK-47 rifle while delivering his sermon on Sunday, February 12 in a local church in Abuja, Nigeria.

According to the BBC, Pastor Uche Aigbe of the Rock Church has been detained alongside a police officer who owned the gun, plus the church's head of security.

Aigbe explained that his sermon was about 'Spiritual weapons'.

Earlier on, the church had apologised unreservedly stating that Pastor Uche's intention of carrying a gun was to illustrate his message.

"On Sunday, February 12, a resident pastor of House on the Rock, Abuja Church, Pastor Uche Aigbe in a message about fighting the good fight with spiritual weapons, carried an unloaded gun to illustrate his message on 'Guarding your Faith.

"Pastor Uche has been a leader in House on the Rock, Abuja since 1999 and has always shown exemplary leadership. However, he realises that even with the best of intentions, carrying a gun to illustrate his message was ill-advised and regrettable," the church said in a statement.

The Prime Times, a Nigerian publication reported that the Federal Capital Territory Police Command arrested the pastor after acting on intelligence.

"The pastor's message and demonstrations were tagged inciting by various media and social media users," the police statement read.

Pictures of the cleric holding the assault rifle have since gone viral on the internet with social media commentators raising concern about the cleric's action.