Catholic priest assassinated in Imo

By Chidi Nkwopara
OWERRI—Rampaging hoodlums in Imo State,
weekend, murdered a Claretian priest of the Catholic Church in
Owerri.
The priest, whose full identity could not be ascertained at press
time, was an academic staff of Imo State Polytechnic,
Umuagwo, in Ohaji/Egbema Local Government Area of the
state.
Confirming the incident yesterday in a telephone interview,
Police Public Relations Officer, Mr. Andrew Enwerem, a Deputy
Superintendent of Police, said the priest was murdered by
assassins on a bush path.
Enwerem said: “The police are suspecting that it was a clear
case of assassination. The priest was gruesomely murdered
along a very lonely bush path that would have led him into Port
Harcourt Road.”
While noting that whatever happened to the priest might be
connected with the bickering and happenings in Imo Polytechnic,
Enwerem, however, wondered why the Catholic priest chose to
use such a lonely bush path.
He said: “The police are suspecting that whatever happened to
the priest cannot be far from the ceaseless bickering emanating
from the polytechnic.
“Again, I wonder why the priest chose to use the lonely bush
path on his Toyota SUV.”
He confirmed that although the police have recovered the
vehicle, no arrests had been made in connection with the crime.
The PPRO said that police patrol teams were despatched to the
area as soon as the information was passed on to them.
He said: “The youths of the community joined the police in
combing the surrounding bushes. The hoodlums simply
perfected and carried out their damnable act before vanishing
into the thin air.”
Enwerem confirmed that the command had not only expanded
its dragnet to all corners of the state, but were following all
available leads.
Enwerem said: “There is the likelihood that the assassins
carefully monitored the priest’s movement and laid ambush for
him on his track. Honestly, it was a gruesome murder.”