Dabwan, who narrowly escaped the
attack, could not thank God enough for the escape as no fewer than nine other
worshippers went down with various degrees of injuries from gunshots, and are
now being battled back to life by a team of specialist doctors at the state
specialist hospital in Jos.
Eyewitnesses, who nervously narrated
their ordeal, said the gunmen entered into the centre, and freely wielded their
dangerous weapons demanding the whereabouts of the Speaker.
They alleged that Dabwan drove into
the premises and shortly after, the attackers followed and began shooting
sporadically into the crowd of worshippers thereby injuring them in the
process.
It was not immediately known if the
attackers were armed robbers, who only wanted to extort money from the Speaker
or whether they are assassins.
But another witness said the way and
manner the men demanded for the Speaker spelt more meaning than a people that
came just to rob. “We noticed that all was not well when we spotted the men who
vigorously and repeated demanded for the Speaker in loud tone.”
He said: “Meanwhile, some of us were
not even aware that the Speaker was in the congregation before the incident.
And how the he managed to sneak out quickly before anyone could identify him is
still a mystery.”
It took the intervention of members
of the Special Task Force (STF) who scared away the attackers, that held the
worshippers hostage and hell bent on capturing the Speaker.
The STF men from the Lomay Hotel area
conveyed the injured persons to the hospital after the attackers had escaped,
even as no arrest was immediately made.
Confirming the incident, the chief
press secretary to the Speaker, Nandak Shingle, said the Speaker was there at
the church when the gunmen struck, adding that he was however not hurt.
But the state Police Public Relations
Officer (PPRO), Mr. Emmauel Onuigbo, could not be reached for further
confirmation as he was not picking his calls.
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Politics