Aiyeku Timothy
A Pentecostal church, Christian Universal Church International, located at Mile 3, Diobu area of Port Harcourt was on Saturday, attacked as suspected persons allegedly detonated explosives at the premises.
The church, which is believed to be owned by the father of Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, was attacked around 8pm on Saturday. However, men of a local security outfit in the area noticed strange movements and swooped in.
The Rivers State Police Force have arrested three suspects and they are being held for questioning.
Confirming the incident, the 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 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 8pm to 9pm 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.”
Another member of the security team, Uche Brown, who corroborated the story said the three suspects have been taken into custody by the police.
“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,” he added.
The spokesman for the State Police Command, Nnamdi Omoni, confirmed that three persons have been arrested in connection with the incident and are helping 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.”
