Pentecostal churches in Anambra State have embarked on fasting and prayers as part of a spiritual warfare to stop the further spread and deaths resulting from Ebola Virus Disease in the country.

Though Ebola has been traced to animals like monkey, bat, etc, and was brought to Nigeria only last month by a Liberian-American, some Pentecostal churches insist that the virus is a sign of God’s wrath on humanity as a result of too much sin. Ebola, as according to them, is more of a spiritual thing, the fulfillment of what the Bible says about last days.

According to the General Overseer of Field of Fire Ministry, Pastor Afam Chukwukwere, “Ebola is simply the fulfillment of the word of God. Somewhere in the book of Mathew, the Bible talked about strange diseases that will afflict man in the last days and this is obviously one of them. People should repent and live a holy life and Ebola and its like will be a forgotten issue.”

Already, churches in Anambra State under the auspices of the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria (PFN) have raised prayer warriors to fight the spread of the virus.

Briefing reporters recently at Gelly’s Gardens Resort in Awka, Evangelist Peter A.K Okoye, the state chairman of Social Security Outreach (SSO), a political arm of (PFN), said very soon the virus would be a thing of the past.

He said with the efforts of the federal and state governments and the combined prayers by the churches, that the battle would soon end.

On his part, Pastor Emma Obiorah, chairman of the media group of SSO, told journalists that intercessors had been assembled from different churches to cut short the virus.

“Ebola is just a name given to one sickness out of many, but Christians have started praying that God will heal all, including the so called deadly virus,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Red Cross Society in Anambra State has clarified that the disease has not reached the state, explaining that the corpse of the state indigene brought from Liberia, which threw the state into confusion, was Ebola-free. Red Cross disclosed that the man rather died in a motor accident and not of Ebola virus as speculated.

The state vice chairman of the Nigerian Red Cross, Prof. Peter Katchy, cleared the air during an Ebola preparedness and response plan programme in the state capital, Awka.

Addressing stakeholders, Prof. Katchy said the group considered it vital to create awareness and prepare the minds of the people concerning the deadly virus.

Teaching the people some of the preventive measures like the washing of hands, he said that Ebola virus was not in Anambra State and prayed that it would never come.

•Photo shows a doctor demonstrating protective measures against Ebola.

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