Some gunmen suspected to be Fulani bandits have reportedly killed one Mr. Chinaza Odumejeogu, the catechist of All Saints Anglican Church, Onicha-Ebia Ikem, Isi-Uzo local government area of Enugu State.
The hoodlums who laid siege to the agrarian community that borders Benue State for two days running since Sunday night, also injured two residents and abducted two others.
According to sources, one Mr. John Ede and his daughter were abducted at Umueje, Ikem-Etiti on Monday morning on their farm.
However, one Mrs. Benedicta Abonyi, who was attacked at her home in Ikem-Uno, behind Ikem General Hospital, escaped following the exchange of gunfire with combined team of security personnel comprising police, army, and the neighborhood watch vigilantes in the community.
According to sources in the community, the Anglican catechist was reportedly kidnapped on his farm on Monday morning, alongside his son who later escaped with a bullet wound on his leg.
“Presently, his son and Mrs. Abonyi are receiving treatment in a private hospital,” sources in the community said.
The catechist was reportedly unlucky, as his abductors allegedly shot him dead and left him in a bush path towards Benue State, where the security agents recovered his body and deposited it at a mortuary.
“A young girl’s motorcycle was snatched from her. She was the one that told us that the kidnappers were four in number,” a vigilante who was part of the operation told this reporter.
“She was the one who told us the road they followed and that was how we recovered the corpse of the catechist. But the woman who escaped from them on Sunday night said they were seven in number. She is the one who identified them as Fulani.
“The woman escaped because they were shooting and we were returning fire for fire, so the kidnappers thought we were closing in on them and they released the woman and ran away,” the source said.
The Enugu State Police Public Relations Officer, Daniel Ndukwe, could not take his calls or respond to text message inquiry when contacted.
