Lagos, Nigeria - Four unknown gunmen on Wednesday stormed the Onireke residence, Ibadan of the President, Conference of Catholic Bishops of Nigeria, Archbishop Alaba Job injuring three of his aides.
Though, it could not be confirmed whether the intruders were assassins or armed robbers, an impeccable source confided in Vanguard that they were assassins looking at the way they came uninvited.
One of the security men that sustained injuries in the attack was the Private Secretary of the cleric, Rev. Father Victor Amole, and two security guards.
It was gathered that the hoodlums who arrived the spacious premises around 9pm on Wednesday having failed to locate the cleric took away three laptops.
The source further narrated that the uninvited guests of the night scaled the fence into the premises and went straight into the building where the cleric resides.
When all efforts to get the cleric failed, the gunmen were said to have turned violent and pointed gun at his assistant, Amole and ordered him to lead them to where Alaba Job was.
After several futile attempts, they were alleged to have beaten those they considered as hindrances on their way to achieve their evil intention to a pulp. They have reportedly been moved to an undisclosed hospital for medical attention.
Further investigations revealed that the cleric had been having avalanche of crises with a notable Ibadan politician over the property of the church in some locations. According to the source, the politician was said to have ignored a court order and resorted to jungle justice to ensure that the church was forced out of the property.
When Vanguard got to the residence of the cleric, his secretary denied our reporters access, saying the man of God did not want the incident to be covered by the press.
On the two injured security men, he said they were being attended to.
His words: "What we are saying is that we are the people traumatized, we don't want it to be covered so that other innocent people would not be infected with the wickedness."
Confirming the incident, the Police Public Relations Officer, Miss. Olabisi Okuwobi, said, "immediately we were alerted yesterday (Wednesday) night, senior police officers at the command visited the scene. The gang members did not have access to the apartment of the bishop."