Nigeria's mega churches adjust to empty auditoriums due to the coronavirus outbreak.

  

The auditoriums of Nigeria's mega churches are empty and their gates are shut as they are forced to observe a government ban on large gatherings to halt the spread of coronavirus.

But it took not only threats, but force and arrests for the message to get across.

In some cases those in charge of making the churches bolt their doors turned to the scriptures.

"May I use the words of [Prophet] Mordechai: 'For such as time as this we do what is appropriate,'" said the leader of an enforcing team in the capital, Abuja, as he arrested a pastor in front of his congregation.

Dressed all in black, had he had a collar he would have passed for a preacher with his baritone voice and gesticulations.

The pastor he led out of the church, donned in a burgundy-coloured suit, shiny black shoes and with hair that glowed in the sun, looked like many of those who now lead huge congregations in the West African nation.

These preachers have changed the face of Christianity in Nigeria - with their evangelical sermons, prophecies and promises of miracles