Pascal Arogorn Ibe
Some suspected hoodlums have attacked a church belonging to the father of Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, in Port Harcourt, the state capital.
It was gathered that hoodlums numbering about five sneaked into the Christian Universal Church International on 25 Azikiwe Street Mile, 3 Diobu, on Saturday night and detonated the explosives suspected to be dynamite.
Reports have it that there was also a significant part of the church which was damaged by the explosion, created panic in the area.
However, three suspects in connection with the act were said to have been apprehended by the police.
According to the police, the gunmen’s escape plan was blocked after men of a local security outfit in the area noticed strange movements and swooped in.
The Assistant Chief Security Officer of the Azikiwe Street Security, Collins Johnbull, while narrating the incident, said one of his men was hit by a bullet in the process of chasing the suspects and currently receiving treatment in the hospital.
Johnbull 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.
“By God’s grace, 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.”
The operatives of Eagle crack, an outfit of the state police command, Mopol 19 and other security agencies were said to have cordoned off the area.
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