Ozubulu Massacre: Police Invite Suspected Drug Baron ‘Bishop’ Ikegwuonu

Ozubulu Massacre: Police Invite Suspected Drug Baron ‘Bishop’ Ikegwuonu

Few days after the re-dedication of St Philip’s Catholic Church, Amakwa Ozubulu in Anambra state for worship following a deadly attack that left 13 people dead, the state police command has invited Chief Aloysius Ikegwuonu also known as Bishop for questioning.

Bishop, who donated the church building to the community, is suspected to be a drug baron and the target of the attack that happened penultimate Sunday.

Bishop’s father was one of the 13 people who died in the attack while 30 others sustained varying degrees of injuries.

Anambra Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Mrs Nkiru Nwode, told newsmen on Tuesday that Bishop had been invited to appear at the police headquarters in Awka on Friday.

Nwode however stressed that the invitation to Ikegwuonu should not be seen as a plan to arrest him as the police had no reason to arrest him.

Ikegwuonu, who left the state before the attack on the church, was said to have returned to the state last Saturday and attended the first Mass at St Philip’s on Sunday.

He declined to speak to anybody after the church service in which the Secretary to the Anambra State Government, SSG, Professor Solo Chukwulobelu, was also in attendance.

Meanwhile, the Catholic Diocese of Nnewi has set up a 10-man Ozubulu Casualty Charity Fund Committee to handle the welfare of the victims of the attack. According to the Vanguard, at least 44 victims of the attack were presented with N50,000 each by the diocese on Tuesday.