RIVERS: Why we bombed Wike’s father’s church – IPOB members

THREE members of the Indigenous People of Biafra arrested by the police for allegedly detonating explosives in Governor Nyesom Wike’s father’s church in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, have confessed they carried out the attack.

The suspects said they attacked the church to boost their recognition in the proscribed group.

They spoke while being paraded before journalists by the state Commissioner of Police, Joseph Mukan, at the police headquarters along Moscow Road, Port Harcourt, on Thursday.

Explaining how he got the news of the attack, Mukan said on November 29, the command received a distress call from 25 Azikiwe Road that the Christian Universal Church Incorporated was attacked, adding that policemen were immediately drafted to the scene.

“There was no life lost during the attack. Our security partners, the vigilantes, arrested these three suspects. We took them and they made useful confessions.

“They claimed that they were six in number. They made confession that they were members of IPOB and that they were zoned to different parts of the state.

“They are Progress Owudinjo, 37, from Etche, Rivers State; Apuro Victor, 25, from Ebonyi State; and John Okorie, 38, from Abia State.

“They will soon be charged to court, while we are trailing their sponsors. IPOB assured them that if IPOB is achieved, they will be policy makers in the government,” Mukan added.

One of the suspects, Owudinjo, confirmed their membership of IPOB, adding that they were contracted to carry out the attack.

He said, “We got there in the night and we detonated the explosives. This is the first assignment I am carrying out since I joined IPOB. I have not killed before. I was told that if I did not join the operation that I would not get anything in the group.”

Similarly, Victor said, “The whole thing was programmed. We were sent by one Chinedu. I don’t know where he came from. I am a member of IPOB but we were not programmed to kill anybody but to throw dynamite. Please, forgive me.”

Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, had earlier signed an executive order to outlaw Indigenous Peoples Organization of Biafra (IPOB) and its activities in the State following spate of unrest attributed to the group.

Before Wike’s action, the Federal Government had in 2017 issued proscription order on IPOB after South East governors banned activities of the pro-Biafra movement in South Eastern state the same year.

The Federal Government outlawed the organisation as a terrorist group.
IPOB had challenged the proscription at a Federal High Court, Abuja but lost the case.