A police IRT commander warned churchgoers to stop sharing personal achievements in church to prevent criminals from targeting them.
A senior commander of the Nigeria Police Force Intelligence Response Team, known as IRT, has issued a strong warning to church members across the country to stop standing up in church to share private details about their money, jobs, and personal success.
The top police officer gave this safety warning while speaking during an official IRT security media briefing broadcast live on TV Platinum on Thursday, October 8, 2026.
He warned Christians and churchgoers never to assume that everyone sitting inside a church building is a true man or woman of God, because bad people and criminals also go to church to plan evil against innocent people.
The police chief explained that sharing big testimonies, especially during late-night prayers and evening services held in quiet areas or outskirts of towns, makes worshippers easy targets for criminals.
He noted that bad people sit quietly inside congregations, listen carefully to people talking about their new cars, houses, business profits, and travel plans, and then follow them home after the service ends to rob or harm them.
Explaining how dangerous criminals plan their evil actions right inside church auditoriums, the IRT commander stated: “After closing from evening service, such acts that they plan will be implemented. You can’t go to a church located on the outskirts, and you go to evening prayer, and close in the evening, coming down to your home, after making testimony of what you have achieved in life.”
The security chief urged people to use wisdom and common sense whenever they are in public gatherings. He pointed out that holding a microphone to list out personal wealth in front of a big crowd is not safe in modern times.
Warning church members to stop trusting everybody sitting on church benches, the commander said: “It doesn’t conform with common sense and rationality in the midst of a gathering of people watching you, thinking that they are all men of God. No. Everybody has his own motive for going to the church.”
The police commander also called on pastors, church leaders, and security organizations to take the safety of their congregation very seriously.
He advised church management boards across the nation to set up strong security teams that will monitor all roads, gates, and footpaths leading into and out of their church premises, especially when conducting night services or evening prayer meetings.
Stressing the need for churches to guide their members properly on security matters, he noted: “I believe the role of security institutions must equally think of the security of their members and must advise them adequately.”
He further emphasized that any religious house holding night meetings must put tight security measures on all movement routes, stating: “If you must hold evening services, that has to be guided with a lot of security observation of the routes in and out, exits of those churches in and out.”
Wrapping up his stern warning to believers who reveal private financial details during testimonies, the police commander concluded: “You can’t just have members come into night, evening prayers, and you say a lot of things that ought not to be said, and you expect these men of underworld will not plan anything against you.”
Police authorities have advised pastors to guide their members on wisdom during testimony sessions while strengthening local security around church environments nationwide.
Jennifer Baba is a journalist, international news correspondent, and writer at Moderncrux, where she covers artificial intelligence, fintech, emerging technologies, global politics, and international affairs. Based in Nigeria, she is passionate about transforming complex global developments into clear, engaging stories that inform and inspire readers.
