Following the outbreak of violence over what worshippers of a church in Abuja called legalisation of practices alien to christian culture, police from the FCT Command reported fired tear gas to disperse Church members on Sunday.

Sources said trouble started at the United Methodist Church, Durumi when members engaged in dangerous fight over the decision of the parent church said to be based in America to impose certain practices which the Nigerian Church goers were not comfortable with.

“The parent church in the US legalised some practices that are not part of our culture. Some elders kicked against it and demanded that the church in Nigeria should pull out, and give the church another name. Another set of elders kicked against the move. This created a faction in the church, hence the fight,” a source said.

Some elders of the church are vehemently against imposition, legalising of such practices and calling for a breakup from the parent church.

The presiding Pastor was however said to have kicked against the breakup with the backing of some other elders hence a fight ensued leading to police being invited to quell the violence.

The Pastor had reportedly said he and some elders would head to the court to stop those calling for a break up of the church during the service and vowed to ensure the church remains with the parent headquarters.

This led to heated arguments just as the church service ended abruptly with throwing of punches among members. The police intervention of the police who fired teargas to disperse worshippers averted catastrophe, eyewitness said.

The police later whisked away some elders of the church with a view to conducting investigation

FCT Police Command Public Relations Officer, SP Josephin Adeh confirmed the incident noting that the Command CP, Benneth Igweh has invited all the elders of the church to the Command over the incident.