Gunmen said to be assassins have attacked the motorcade of Apostle Johnson Suleman, the general overseer of Omega Fire Ministries, killing five Police Officers and two relatives.
The preacher was attacked around 5pm on Friday at Water Tanker Junction, Warrake Road, Auchi, Edo State.
A yet-to-be-identified man and a teenage girl said to be his relatives were killed in the attack.
Eyewitnesses said the gunmen who operated in an Ash-coloured Toyota Siena minivan without number plates opened fire on his motorcade, riddling them with bullets.
A local newspaper, Auchi Blog quoted the eyewitnesses as saying Johnson’s vehicle’s tyres were deflated by the assailants’ bullets but he managed to escape.
They gunmen also took possession of the arms of the slain Police Officers and escaped through the Warrake part of the road.
Apostle Suleiman’s representative who confirmed the attack to standardobservers, said one of the assassins was intercepted in Ivbiaro, Northwest Edo – 10 kilometres from Auchi – by local vigilantes and was lynched.
The Edo State Police Command is yet to react to the development as of the time of filing this report.
