THE death toll of the shooting at St. Philip’s Catholic
Church, Ozubulu, on Sunday, has increased with the death of Pa Ikegwuonu, the
father of Chief Aloysius Ikegwuonu, the South African-based businessman who
built and donated the church where the shooting that claimed tens of lives and
left more injured took place.
Aloysius, various referred to as High Chief, is popularly
called Bishop.
Pa Ikegwuonu, impeccable sources told The Oracle Today,
succumbed to his injuries at the Nnamdi Azikiwe Teaching Hospital, Nnewi, where
he was rushed to after the incident that unsettled the quiet surroundings of
St. Philip’s Catholic Church, Ofufe Amakwa, Ozubulu, in Ekwusigo Local
Government of Anambra State.
Efforts had been on to save his life and those of other
victims of the shooting that shattered the quietness that attends Sundays in
the State. Bishop’s wi9fe, who was shot on her right arm, was reportedly
responding to treatment.
“He was an old man,” said a source. “He lost too much
blood. He was in shock from the shooting. He was badly injured from the
incident. All the efforts to save him failed today.” Some witnesses of the
attack at St. Philip’s had thought the man died at the scene. Later reports
said he was in intensive care.
Pa Ikegwuonu’s remains have been deposited at the St.
Charles Borromeo’s Hospital mortuary in Onitsha. Some of the other victims are
in mortuaries in Ozubulu at the teaching hospital.
There are fears that the death of the old man, if
security agencies do not move quickly in apprehending Sunday’s killers, could
result in reprisal attacks that would set the community against itself.
On a visit to the scene of the shooting, Governor Willie
Obiano had promised that the killers would be arrested, a promise that the
State Commissioner of Police Garba Baba Umar repeated.
Source: Oracle News
Tags
Society