July 13, (THEWILL) – Police operatives of FIB-IRT, have arrested a 32-year-old man, Yusuf Ismael Isah, for attacking the convoy of Apostle Johnson Suleman, the founder of Omega Fire Ministries Worldwide, Auchi, on October 21, 2022, along Benin–Auchi road.
The suspect, Isah, a native of Okene, Kogi State, and a plumber, at Agbaraoluwa Phase 2 Ijoka, Akure, Ondo State, was arrested with five AK-47 Rifles, two K2 Assault rifles, 180 live ammunition and four suspected IEDs all found in his apartment.
Force PRO, CSP Olumuyiwa Adejobi, who confirmed the development on Thursday, said investigations revealed that the suspect was part of a 7-man gang responsible for the attack on the convoy of Apostle Suleman.
Adejobi said some of the rifles found in his possession were snatched from the three police officers slain during the October 21, 2022 attack.
THEWILL recalls that six people including three police personnel, were gruesomely murdered during the attack on the convoy of Apostle Suleman.
While two members of the 7-man gang were gunned-down in separate encounters with the Police and the other four at large, Speaking to newsmen, Isah confessed that he joined the gang in 2021, after he was freed from Olokuta Correctional Centre, where he was on remand since 2019 for alleged involvement in armed robbery.
He said the instruction given by their leader (still at large) was to assassinate Apostle Suleman, but he was lucky to have escaped.
The suspect, however, insisted that he didn’t know the person who ordered the assassination of Suleman.
He also said the group specialises in kidnaping for ransom and have carried out about four kidnapping operations between 2021 and 2023, including the attack on the convoy of the Apostle, before the gang was eventually busted by the Police.
The suspect also confessed that the gang was responsible for the kidnap of a popular oil dealer at Jetu, Auchi, in 2022, who paid a ransom of about N70 million naira before his release.
The gang equally carried out the kidnap of a businessman along Benin –Agbor express road in 2022 and collected N20m as ransom from the victim’s family.
Their last attempt at kidnapping after the failed attack on the Apostle was along Owo–Ikare road.
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