4 Priests Beaten To Pulp As Enugu Govt Battles Anglican Church

No fewer than six persons, including four Anglican priests, were on
Friday allegedly beaten to stupor by some members a task-force working
with the Enugu State Housing Corporation.

The victims were Reverends Collins Odoabuchi, Mbaka Peter, Eugene, and
Maxwell Onyia.

Others members of the church affected were Ekpecha Okechukwu and Naomi Ibekwe.

The development, which is building up tension in Enugu, the state
capital is coming one week to the end of Governor Sullivan Chime's
administration.

Vanguard reports that trouble started when members of the task force,
accompanied by armed policemen, invaded a parcel of land belonging to
the Christ Church, Uwani, Anglican Communion, sparking off anger from
both clergymen and members of the church.

The Clerics were said to have tried to stop the Task force from
carrying out the demolition exercise but were over powered by the
government agents, who allegedly unleashed terror on the church
leaders.

One of the victims, who gave her name as Naomi Ibekwe told journalists
that she was hit with iron and hard objects, including stones, causing
bruises and severe injuries on her.

But for the quick intervention of the State Commissioner of Police,
Muhammed Abubakar Adamu, who came physically to the scene, there would
have been more casualties as the members of the task force insisted on
going ahead with the exercise as allegedly directed by the state
government.

Reacting to the incident, the State Commissioner of Police, Adamu
Mohammed, told the angry church leaders and their faithful that they
should allow peace to reign as negotiation had begun.

"We have discussed with the church. If anybody is injured, we will not
take it lightly. We have already asked that a formal report be made
and we will follow it up. We have agreed on a peace move and we are
following it up", he stated.

Also speaking, the Priest in-charge of the Christ Church, Venerable N.
Aghadi said, "We have talked at length and discussed very
progressively.

"The Commissioner of Police is pleading that we should go home and
rest. He has promised that the matter is in good hand and that
immediately the Archbishop returns, he will have meeting with him".

However, a source told Vanguard that the state government revoked the
land with an intention to build an estate christened "Transparency
Estate".

While the clash lasted on Friday, five bulldozers were being used to
demolish the structures at the disputed land inside the church
premises.

Findings by Vanguard showed that the Church was dedicated by His
Grace, the Most Reverend C . J. Patterson, the then ArchBishop of West
Africa and Bishop of the Niger in 1965.

Meanwhile, it was learnt that the Managing Director of the Enugu State
Housing Corporation, Emeka Vitalis Onah, who led his team to the
place, escaped being lynched by church members who had planned a
reprisal attack.
—Vanguard