The Anambra state Police
Command has said that it has arrested suspects involved in the early Sunday
morning killing of worshippers at St. Philips Catholic Church in Ozubulu.
Spokesman of the command, Nkeiruka Nwode, confirmed this to TheCable on Monday.
While refusing to reveal
the identities of the suspects, the spokesman said that the suspects were
arrested on Monday. “This is a very sensitive investigation so you people
(journalists) have to help us,” she was quoted as saying. “As soon as the
investigation is concluded, we will let the public know. But as far as I’m
concerned, it definitely has nothing to do with terrorists. It’s just a
conflict between individuals.”
No fewer than 35
worshippers were killed scores injured. It was learned that trouble started for
worshippers who were in church for the 6:00am Mass, when at about 6:45am, the
gunmen rode into the church in a Lexus SUV, as one of them entered the church
and shot at close range an elderly man, later identified as Pa Ikegwuonu, while
others remained in the vehicle outside.
An eye-witness told
Vanguard that after killing the old man, the gunman opened fire on other
worshippers, as those who tried to flee were cut down by the gunmen outside the
church.
Pa Ikegwuonu is the
father of Chief Aloysius Ikegwuonu, a businessman from Amakwa, who built and
donated the church to Nnewi Diocese, while his wife was shot on her right arm
and still on admission at the teaching hospital.
It was gathered that the
gunmen were looking for his son, Aloysius, who was said to have returned to the
village on Saturday and left later in the day. According to a source, the
gunmen had thought he was in the church and had wanted to deal decisively
with him over a yet-to-be ascertained business deal. How it happened — Witness
A survivor, Mr. Stephen Ohamadike, told Vanguard at the church premises that
the gunmen entered the church around 6.45am as they were about to begin prayer of
the faithful. He said: “Those of us who were to say the prayers of the faithful
had just assembled at the altar and I had Number 2 which meant that I was to
say the prayer for Nigeria.
Suddenly, I saw someone
who was putting on a cap shooting indiscriminately inside the church. “There
was pandemonium and in the midst of the confusion, I just lay down on the
floor. The officiating priest and the Mass servers quickly left the altar and
the Mass came to an abrupt end.
“I counted 11 dead
people and many were wounded. I used the vehicle belonging to Pa Ikegwuonu to
take him and his wife and others to Evans Hospital where the doctors advised us
to go to the teaching hospital. I used the car to convey many other people to
the hospital before I came back to Amakwa.”
The parish priest, Rev
Father Jude Onwuaso, declined comment on the incident, saying the Bishop had
directed that only the Diocesan Director of Communications should speak on the
matter. Several other parishioners, who sustained bullet wounds were being treated
at the hospital, with over 50 medical doctors from Nnamdi Azikiwe University
Teaching Hospital, NAUTH, and other private hospitals around Nnewi battling to
save their lives at the Emergency Unit of the hospital.
Governor Willie Obiano,
who visited both the church and the teaching hospital, described the incident
as very worrisome, adding that preliminary investigations by the Police showed
that it was a case between two people from the community who were resident
abroad
He said: “It is tragic
that these two people had to bring their quarrel abroad to the village and to
the church where innocent people had to be killed and injured. We are not going
to relax until those who perpetrated this heinous crime are apprehended.
That I can assure you.
“It was so bad that the gunmen went round the church to ascertain that the car
belonging to the person they were after was there before they entered the
church and started shooting, not knowing that it was his parents that came in
the car.
“I don’t want churches in this state to become
apprehensive because of this incident because it is an isolated case.” The
governor commended the doctors for their quick response to save lives, adding
that but for their intervention, more lives would have been lost.
He promised that the
state government would offset the bills of those being treated and assist in
bearing the cost of the funeral of those who lost their lives.