Police arrest 3 suspects who allegedly attacked Gov Wike’s father’s church with explosives

Police operatives in Rivers State have arrested three out of five suspects who allegedly detonated explosives at a Pentecostal church owned by the father of the state governor, Nyesom Wike.

The suspects reportedly attacked the church around 8 pm on Saturday, November 28, 2020.

According to Punch, after the suspects detonated the explosives, some men of a local security outfit in the area, who had noticed their movements around the church swooped in before they escaped.

Narrating the incident, Assistant Chief Security Officer of the Azikiwe Street Security, Collins Johnbull said one of his men was hit by a bullet in the process of chasing the suspects.

He added that three of the suspects were arrested while two escaped.

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.

“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.”

Uche Brown, another member of the security team, who confirmed the incident to Punch said the three suspects have been taken into custody 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.”

Nnamdi Omoni, the spokesperson for the State Police Command while confirming the incident said, three persons arrested in connection with the incident are helping the police with the investigation.

He added that the police anti-bomb unit had earlier arrived at the scene.