Bishop Ibro breaks silence three months after escaping deadly attack by bandits in Zaria

Bishop Ibro Zion, General Overseer, Mountain of Praise Church International, Zaria, has explained how he narrowly escaped a deadly attack carried out by suspected armed bandits over two months ago.

Bishop Ibro Zion

General Overseer, Mountain of Praise Church International, Zaria

It was gathered that the marauding gunmen had in September 1 attacked the clergyman at his residence situated in Angwan Madaki Kufena, Zaria, Kaduna State.

Witnesses, who are familiar with the incident during a visit to the location by our reporter, told this newspaper under the condition of anonymity that the brigands had abducted few residents shortly after a failed mission at the clergyman's house.

The attack according to witnesses revealed that the bandits carried out the operation for over two hours with little or no resistance from relevant security agencies.

However, in this exclusive interview with Noblenews Idris Ibrahim, the clergyman, while narrating his ordeal, disclosed that he narrowly escaped the deadly attack that lasted for over 1 hour via “divine intervention.”

“I was in the kitchen with my wife at about 10:34pm joking and laughing while she was preparing something for me, then; I noticed strange presence as my dog kept on barking repeatedly.”

“Just to pip through the window all I could see was a gun pointing at me, requesting that I open the door. I speedily got back to the kitchen, grabbed my wife and took her into the children’s room to hide, came back to put off all the lights and appliances.”

“Before I could finish that, I heard gun shots on the door and the kidnappers started hitting the metal door. It was difficult for them, it took few minutes to open but as soon as the door opened, I dived into the store and crawled under the table,” the clergyman recounted.

However, he further revealed that the marauding gunmen ransacked his house in search of him after forcing their way into his house.

“They got in with guns and started searching the entire house, took all my phones, laptops and all means of communication. Opened the fridge, drums of water and all nook and cranny searching for me.”

“They asked my wife three times where I was and she told them that she doesn't know. They woke my first born, Praise; hitting him on the head with their rifle to disclose where I was but the boy boldly answer that he didn’t know where I was,” the bishop recalled.

Mrs. Lara Zion

Receiving traditional treatment for the fractured leg sustained during the ordeal from kidnappers

“One of them came into the store where I hid, shone a very bright torchlight on me, but somehow didn’t see me. I was looking at the light and he was looking at me but it turned out that I became invisible. He pointed gun at me and shot inside the store. All I could remember was that my thumb and other parts of the body was bleeding but the gun didn't touch me. He waited for few seconds to see if there will be movement inside the store, but none, then he went back to the parlour to make call.”

“I heard him saying ‘we came to the house but didn’t see BISHOP, but we saw his wife and children’ the person on the background most likely instructed them to pick my wife and leave the children, because that was what they did,” he added.

Therefore, the bishop concluded that the attack by the brigands was an attempt to assassinate him.

“At this point, I was about to step outside in exchange for my wife, then I heard their ring leader outside shouting out loudly saying ‘Ku kashe shi, Ku harbe shi idan kuka gan shi’ meaning if you see Bishop, shoot him, kill him,” the Bishop narrated.

Bishop Ibro’s wife, Mrs. Lara Zion, told Noblenews that she was abducted by the armed bandits during the attack, but, regained freedom before the gunmen conveyed her alongside other abductees to their enclave.

“At about 10:30pm, the bandits came to our house, they begin to search, and they asked me where my husband was. I told them that I don’t know his whereabouts,” Mrs. Zion said.

She disclosed that the gang leader had received a call from an unidentified caller and he informed caller that they could not find my husband. After a while, the gang leader told me to follow and ordered his men to take me in place of my husband along with other captives.

Mrs. Lara Zion

Recuperating from the bone fracture

“They took me miles away from my house to a bush; it was rainy that fateful night. While dragging my feet through the forest, I slumped and fractured my leg. The injury forced the bandits to abandon me at the forest. She recalled.

Kufena settlement in Zaria being on the fringes of the ancient city, is one of the communities that is badly affected by kidnappings and banditry activities since in 2019 election.

Similarly, neighbouring communities like Kuregu, Wusasa have witnessed several attacks over the years by gunmen suspected to be bandits. Dozens of residents have been abducted while some lost their lives including a soldier, and vigilante during a deadly attack carried out by the brigands.