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The Rivers State Command of the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) has nabbed three suspects for allegedly detonating explosives at a church, located at Mile 3, Diobu area of Port Harcourt.
The church, Christian Universal Church International is reported to be owned by the father of Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike.
The suspects numbering about five raided the church around 8 pm on Saturday, Punch reports.
Local vigilante group in the area blockaded the gunmen’s escape route after noticing abnormal movements and interfered.
Collins Johnbull, Assistant Chief Security Officer of the Azikiwe Street Security, while giving an account of the incident, said that one of his men was shot in the process of chasing the susects and currently being treating in the hospital.
He said, “On Saturday, 28th day of November 2020, while I was on my duty post, we observed some movements around 8 pm to 9 pm and we were on the alert, before then we saw some strange faces, about five of them, that entered into the governor’s father’s church and we thought they were church members having their normal evening programme, but we were suspicious of them because of the way they were moving.
“About five minutes after the boys entered the church, there was an explosion, we heard a banging noise like that of a bomb from the church and we immediately approached the church and saw them (the suspects) jumping out of the church wearing masks and carrying guns and started shooting at my men.
“We were able to apprehend three of the criminals that attacked the church, while two escaped. We did everything in our power to apprehend the hoodlums, as we are talking now, one of my men who was hit by a bullet is receiving treatment.”
Uche Brown, another member of the security team, who gave credence to the story said the three suspects nabbed have been detained by the police.
Brown said, “Around 8.43 pm, some hoodlums who attacked the state governor’s father’s church at Azikiwe street tried to bring down the building by throwing dynamites into it but (they) did not succeed.
“When they noticed that the security men were approaching them, they tried to escape and we apprehended three of them, while two escaped, before the arrival of the police who took them into custody.”
Police spokesperson in the state, Nnamdi Omoni, confirmed the incident, noting that the three suspects arrested are assisting the police with the investigation.
He said, “I can confirm the attack on the church and three suspects arrested in connection with the attack. They are helping us in our investigation.
“The church has been swept by the Bomb Department.”
This post was written by Obiajulu Joel Nwolu.
The views expressed here belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect our views and opinions.