Uche Ejimonye, an attorney with a practice in Owerri, has described how gunmen abducted two priests from a Catholic church after killing his father-in-law, Valentine Enwerem.
The lawyer claimed that his father-in-killers law’s followed him from Amaraku in the state’s Isiala Mbano Local Government Area to Orji, where his father-in-law and the two priests became stuck in a traffic jam. The statement to his colleagues was obtained by our correspondent in Owerri, the capital of Imo State, on Monday.
Ejimonye claimed that on Friday night, the assailants kidnapped the two Catholic priests that his father-in-law was transporting in his car while also shooting him multiple times.
He claimed that although his father-in-law was saved by a bystander, he tragically passed away before they could reach a hospital.
The statement read, “I wish to announce the demise and sudden death of my father-in-law, Valentine Enwere, popularly known as ‘Oga Val’ at Orji Mechanic Village.
“He was shot dead by kidnappers at Orji after fleeing from them from Amaraku to Owerri and surviving the series of gunshots at his vehicle, but was caught up by the hold-up at Orji, but on attempt to escape after coming down from his vehicle, he was shot five times at the back.
“The kidnappers then left with the two Reverend Fathers that were with him in the car and zoomed off.
“Attempt by passers-by to rescue him and take him to the hospital proved abortive as he died on the way to the hospital.
“It is really regrettable on the situation of this our state and what it has turned into.”
The attorney claimed the event had been reported to the state police command’s anti-kidnapping unit in Owerri.
However, he said that the only person who would have known the names of the abducted Catholic priests and the diocese they were from was his father-in-law.
The Owerri Catholic Archdiocese’s Director of Communications, Rev. Fr. Raymond Ogu, responded when contacted by our correspondent that the archdiocese had not yet received any reports of any missing priests in any of its parishes as of the time this report was filed.
He did, however, pledge to contact our correspondent if the archdiocesan administration received any reports on the development.
As of the time of this report, Michael Abattam, the state police command’s spokesperson, had not responded to a question about the event.
