Magnus Eze, Enugu
Suspected herdsmen have killed yet another Catholic priest, Rev. Father Paul Offu in Enugu State. Fr. Offu was allegedly killed by herdsmen Thursday evening along the Agbudu-Ihe road in Awgu Local Government Area of the state.
Irked by the dastard killing, priests of the Enugu Catholic Diocese, yesterday, took to the streets, to protest the murder of their colleague. The protesting priests who marched to the Government House, lamented that over four of their colleagues have been killed in recent times in the state with little or no concrete outcome from investigations by the police or other security agencies.
News of Fr. Offu’s murder first appeared on the Catholic Diocese of Enugu’s Facebook page which stated that the priest was shot dead by “some hoodlums suspected to be the notorious and murderous Fulani herdsmen”.
Fr. Offu hailed from Okpatu in Udi Local Government Area of Enugu State and until his death, was the Parish Priest of St. James the Greater Parish, Ugbawka, in Nkanu East Local Government Area.
His death came on the heels of recent attack on Rev. Fr. Ikechukwu Ilo, along Nomeh axis of Nkanu East Local Government Area, precisely on Wednesday, July 17 by suspected kidnappers who opened fire on him after he refused to obey their instruction to stop his car.
Saturday Sun gathered that the priest sustained gunshot injuries and is currently recuperating in an undisclosed hospital. Before this period, another priest in the diocese, Rev. Fr. Clement Ugwu was kidnapped and gruesomely murdered.
The killing of the cleric occurred barely 24 hours after Nathaniel Ayogu, brother to Nigeria’s former ambassador, Chief Fidel Ayogu was abducted by gunmen at his Agu Ego Umopu home in Igboeze North Local Government Area.
His relation, Ike Job Ali, who tried to save Ayogu from the daredevils was shot in the stomach and was rushed to the Bishop Shanahan’s Hospital, Nsukka, where he allegedly died at about 6pm on Thursday.
Meanwhile, reactions have continued to trail the spate of insecurity in Enugu State. Immediate past Commissioner for Information in the state, Chief Ogbuagu Anikwe took to his Facebook page to condemn the killings, especially, of Catholic priests.
“Sometimes, you get so confused about things you do not really know how to react. The Awgu sector of Enugu-Port Harcourt expressway, including the villages around the highway, is now a hotbed of terrorist activities.
“Rev. Father Paul Ofu, one-time parish priest of my home parish, mercilessly executed this evening. He joins a growing list of our people who are daily being assaulted in the farms, and motorists being robbed and kidnapped between Awgu and Nkanu stretch of this highway. The herdsmen are implicated. In some other instances, it is home grown bandits. In all cases, everyone is terrified but I guess a point has been reached when the people will rise up and defend themselves, defend their means of livelihood (their farms) and defend their dignity.”