Posted by A suspect in the deadly attack on the convoy of a Nigerian televangelist, Apostle Johnson Suleman, has claimed that they were paid N50 million to assassinate the cleric.
Suleman, the founder of Omega Fire Ministry, was the target of a terrifying occurrence in October 2022 in Edo State, Nigeria’s southernmost state.
Yusuf Isa, a 32-year-old plumber from Okene in Kogi State, was paraded in Abuja over the weekend by the Force spokesperson, Olumuyiwa Adejobi.
Isa said in a videotaped interview released on Twitter that the strategic tactics his eight-member team used to avoid capture by security forces were divine intervention, implying that his detention was the result of divine intervention.
“It is not easy for the Police Force to track us,” he claimed. We don’t make phone calls, and I’ve never used the phone I’m holding. We specialized in communicating with ourselves via the Telegram platform.
“Unlike WhatsApp, Telegram uses a username rather than a phone number.” Even the line we’re using to buy data isn’t registered. We did not register any lines on our own, nor did we create any accounts in our own names.
“I can only say that because of the caliber of people we’ve assaulted, only God wanted to find me.”
“We wanted to murder him.” Someone planned it, but I don’t know who. Labista and Eliazu were there. Labista is on the run, but Eliazu is no longer alive.”
Mr Isah refused to say who paid for the attack, but said his gang members told him they received N50 million to kill the Imam.
He stated,
“I just wish I could ask him (the cleric) for forgiveness one on one.” I sincerely apologize.”
He went on to say that the aftermath of the incident had been “hell” for his gang members.
“We lost two of our leaders,” Isah explained. Following Eliazu’s death, the next commander, Ejima, also died. After Ejima, I will be the next leader. “I’ve been arrested.”
In another Twitter video, the suspect stated that four gang members remained, three in Abuja and one in Ekiti State.
In his confessional video, Isah stated that their driver, “Abdulrahman,” was also killed in the incident.
Suleman was on his way to an undetermined place when he was attacked in the Auchi district of Edo State, only hours after returning from a vacation to Tanzania in East Africa.
Mr Adejobi, a police spokesperson, stated that Isah was apprehended in Ondo State.
He stated, “Intelligence revealed that the seven-man syndicate has been actively involved in kidnapping operations within Edo State and its environs and have carried out about four kidnapping operations between 2021 and 2023 before the gang was eventually busted by the police.”