The Senior Pastor of the Omega Fire Ministries Worldwide, Apostle Johnson Suleman, has demanded the arrest of the Divisional Police Officer in Auchi, CSP Ayodele Suleiman, who allegedly shot one of the suspects that attacked his convoy and killed seven people.
Religion Nigeria reported that three policemen, two drivers and two others were killed during the deadly attack which took place on Friday while Suleman escaped by the whiskers with his family.
One of the suspects who carried out the inhumane attack was apprehended on Friday by youths and members of a vigilance group in the state and handed over to DPO Suleiman who allegedly shot the suspect dead.
However, in a statement through his adviser, Dickson Osajie, Apostle Suleman sought the intervention of the Inspector-General of Police, Usman Baba, over the brutal attack on his convoy.
He also urged the IGP to set up a board of enquiry to ascertain the reason why the DPO killed the suspect, adding that his (DPO’s) decision to eliminate the evidence that could unravel those behind the dastardly act was suspicious.
He said “I do not expect a senior police officer that is well trained at that level to eliminate concrete evidence that can be used to track the remaining suspects. The IGP as a matter of urgency should get the DPO arrested and as a matter of urgency, set up a board of enquiry to ascertain the reason why a DPO of a police station will stoop so low and shoot a suspect dead.
“The DPO, by eliminating the suspect, eliminated evidence and it means he does not want the public to know what happened. It means he has closed the investigation by eliminating the evidence. What manner of policing is this? This is a policing tragedy and I will advise that the IGP gets him arrested immediately because the DPO’s action gave the Nigeria Police Force a bad name.”
“When Abba Kyari arrested Evans, was Evans eliminated? He wasn’t. So, how will you get a suspect red-handed and shoot him dead in broad daylight? For what purpose? A high-profile personality was attacked, eight people were killed, a suspect was arrested alive and he killed the suspect. It is an intentional operational error.
“The Commissioner of Police, Edo State, should take over the case and get the DPO arrested immediately so that he can explain why he shot the suspect dead. The phone of the suspect should be taken over from the DPO before it is destroyed.”
Meanwhile, the state Deputy Police Public Relations Officer, Jennifer Iwegbu, in a statement on Saturday, said the Commissioner of Police, AIG Abutu Yaro, ordered the removal of the DPO as part of the measures to unravel the circumstances that led to the death of one of the surviving members of the gang that attacked the cleric’s convoy on Friday.
The statement read in part, “The outgoing CP, now AIG Abutu Yaro, has ordered the withdrawal of CSP Ayodele Suleiman, DPO Auchi, for debriefing at the state headquarters with immediate effect. We urged members of the public to remain calm and patient, assuring that no stone would be left unturned to unearth the circumstances surrounding the incident.”
Also speaking, Suleman’s lawyer, Samuel Amune, while also demanding a thorough investigation into the case, said, “One of the boys (suspects) was caught yesterday by vigilantes and he was handed over alive to the Auchi Police Division. But ironically, we don’t know what happened and the next thing we heard was that the police have shot him dead. I don’t know what the police will cook up later to be responsible for shooting him as the police station was not attacked by the youths.”