Armed Men attack COCIN Church In Abuja

The armed men, numbering two, invaded the hillside venue of the prayer meeting at 1 pm local time on Saturday, wielding machetes and a rifle as members of the Church were halfway into the one-day annual programme, before they were overpowered.

A victim of the attack, Chung Pam, who sustained machete injuries to his head and was still being treated at the Nyanya General Hospital, disclosed that one of the two armed men also sustained injuries as the group struggled to disarm him, while the other escaped unhurt.

According to Pam, the armed men emerged from the bush as prayer was going on, wearing masks and brandishing a pistol and machetes, then ordered them to lie down before the assailants went wild and cornered one of their brethren to attack him.

Pam said at that point, a member of the church tried to repel the attackers by hurling a stone at one of them, but his partner hurriedly drew his machete and gave him, Pam, a deep cut on the head, while several minor injuries were sustained by their members as they tried to disarm them.

The Pastor of the Church, Rev. James Dakom, who addressed newsmen at Nyanya General Hospital where victims of the attack were being treated, said police officers were drafted to the scene of the attack and recovered weapons used by the attackers.

Dakom however noted that the intention of the attackers was not known although one of them who was overpowered and handed over to the police said they were sent by someone.

“Today, we had a seminar of the Regional Church Council, Karu at the RCC headquarters; so while we were there some of our members went to Nyanya hill to pray; it’s a yearly or annual programme for the group.

“While we were in the programme we had a call from one of our security men that something happened on the mountain and they have brought one of our members to the general hospital in Nyanya.

“So we had to rush to come and see him. When we came around, we noticed that they stabbed him on the head with a cutlass and we came to inquire what happened.

“When we came to the police station, we noticed that the church members struggled to fight with the armed men and overpowered one of them, while the other one ran away and they dragged one of our brothers who was injured to the hospital.

“I also noticed that the other armed man that was caught at the mountain was injured in the course of struggling with them and has also been taken to the hospital.

“So when they came to the hospital they were saying that our group members should treat the man but they said they don’t have anything on them and that the money they used in treating their member they had to borrow it,” Dakom narrated.

Meanwhile, a Divisional Crime Officer, DCO, attached to Nyanya police station, confirmed the incident but declined further comment on the matter, citing ongoing investigations and refused to give his name.

Efforts by newsmen to reach the Divisional Police Officer, DPO, for comments proved abortive as he was not on seat.