Traditionalists in Obu¬bo village,
Ugbenu, in Awka North Local Government Area of Anam¬bra State, at the
weekend un¬leashed terror on a Catholic Priest and his parishioners
during a procession in the community.
The cleric, who is recu¬perating in a
hospital, was shot and stabbed by armed youths who were hired by the
leaders of a deity in the vil¬lage. They also injured 20 of the Catholic
faithful.
The victim, Rev. Father Fidelis
Ifeanyichukwu Ugo¬zo, of St. Raphael’s Catholic Church, was leading his
con-gregation in a prayer proces¬sion when the suspected tra¬ditional
worshippers struck.
The AUTHORITY learnt that the hoodlums,
who were armed with dangerous weap¬ons, stabbed the cleric and shot him
twice from behind.
The youths were said to have torn the
priest’s humer¬al veil to shreds and stabbed him on the face while his
fol-lowers were wounded. Res¬idents said that the priest holds a monthly
Rosary procession in the village.
According to eyewitness¬es, the priest
was carrying the “Blessed Sacrament” with his parishioners moving from
one village to the other when they were intercepted by one Mr. Gabriel
Ikegbunam, now at large.
They said that Ikegbunem insisted that
they would not be allowed to enter Obubo village. When the congrega-tion
allegedly ignored him, he called in some youths who at¬tacked the
priest and others who were mainly women and children.
Father Ugozo, who is the Spiritual
Director of Amen and Amen Ministry, Omor, in Orumba North Local
Gov-ernment Area of Anambra State, was first rushed to an undisclosed
hospital in Eben¬ebe before being transferred to St. Joseph’s Hospital,
Adazi Ani.
A former Catechist in St. Raphael’s
Parish, Ug¬benu, Chief Cletus Nwank¬wo, told The AUTHORITY that Obubo
village is known in Ugbenu town for idol wor¬shipping. He said the
youths suspected that the Rosary procession was aimed at de¬stroying
their deity’s shrine.
He said: “They (parish¬ioners) moved
from Agueke village to Obiagu and decid¬ed to veer into Obubo before
Ikegbunam blocked them and in the process alerted the youths that some
Catholics were coming to burn their shrine. The youths trooped out,
wielding dangerous weapons such as axes, guns and machetes.
“They grabbed the Bless¬ed Sacrament
from our Par¬ish Priest, hit it on the floor and used the Monstrance to
hit our priest on his hand be¬fore stabbing him on the face and other
parts of the body”.
The Traditional Ruler of Ugbenu Town,
Igwe Law¬rence Egwuonu, whose wife, Lolo Egwuonwu, was bat¬tered by the
youths, said that Ikegbunam, Israel Egwu and two others stormed his
palace before the incident occurred to complain that their shrine and
other sacred symbols were burnt by some Chris¬tians.
“Upon investigation,” he said, “I
discovered that they were all liars. None of their shrines was burnt and
I can defend it anywhere. It was Ikegbunam that incit¬ed others to
attack the priest and other Christians. Their greatest mistake was
touch¬ing the priest and destroying the Blessed Sacrament. It is a
sacrilege and they will pay for it”.
At the time of filing this report, two
of the suspects, Mr. Anthony Anigbogu and Humphrey Ekwenye, had been
arrested by the Police and taken to the State Crim¬inal Investigation
Depart¬ment (SCID), Awka.
Others: Moses Ekwe¬nye, the gang leader
(Ikeg¬bunam), Amechi Onuorah, Sunday Okoye and Tochuk¬wu Okoye, were
said to be on the run.
Other suspects still at large are Sunday Innocent, Amaechi Anozie, Oge Nna¬kee, Lambert Okoye, Ejike Okafor and Omenankiti Uba.
The Chief Priest of “Ofufe” Deity, Mr.
Ome¬nankiti Uba, could not be reached for comments but one of his allies
who sought anonymity, said they were protecting their Ofufe Dei¬ty
since the Catholic Priest was in the habit of destroying shrines in the
community.
Residents who did not want to be named
said the incident happened around 3pm when the Catholic faith¬ful were
on their Rosary and Eucharistic procession.
They said that the priest was about
escaping when he heard that the hoodlums were about to shoot him from
the back which they eventually did.
One of the residents said that the
attack may not be unconnected to a spiritual cleansing the priest
carried out three years ago when he resumed duty in the area. He said
that although the priest was the prime target of the at¬tack, some of
his parishioners were wounded, including the wife of the traditional
ruler of the community and a woman whose finger was cut off.
Our reporter learnt the cleric was
immediately rushed to a nearby hospital where he was first attended to
before he was later brought to the present hospital.
When contacted, the State Police Command
said it was not aware of the may¬hem but would make con¬tacts to
establish the true po¬sition of things.
The Police Public Rela¬tions Officer, Nkiru Nwode, said that the incident had not been reported to the police.
0 comments:
Post a Comment