The urge to gain recognition and possibly advance rapidly within the hierarchy of the outlawed group, Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, was responsible for the bombing of the Christian Universal Church Incorporated, CUCI, in Port Harcourt. The attackers said they had no intention to kill.
These were the confessions of three men arrested on the scene by vigilantes and paraded by the police in Port Harcourt on Thursday in connection with the attack.
Located on Azikiwe Road and owned by the father of Rivers State Governor, Nyeson Wike, newsmen reports that the church was attached with dynamite at night on Sunday, 29th November.
Rivers State Commissioner of Police Joseph Mulan while parading the suspects at the police headquarters along Moscow Road, Port Harcourt said policemen were deployed to the area after they received a distress call from church.
“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, according to Abuja Reporters.
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.”
It would be recalled that the Rivers State Governor and IPOB have been at daggers drawn centred round the mode of going about their agitation