Bandits invade Anambra catholic church, attack catechist, gardener with machete -

There was commotion at St. Peter’s Anglican Church, Aguleri, in the Anambra East Local Government Area of Anambra State on Saturday following its invasion by some machete-wielding bandits.

Herald Nigeria learnt that the hoodlums got into the church compound around 3 am on Saturday and unleashed terror on some of the residents.

According to a source within the church, “Information has it that the hoodlums neither came to steal nor to dispossess the residents of their belongings, but their mission was to capture and kill the resident priest, whom they couldn’t get due to their inability to find their way to his apartment upstairs.

“They had placed a ladder on the wall of the one-storey building to achieve their set target. The church teacher (catechist), Christopher Chukwu, who had come out in the dead of the night to ease himself, saw strange torchlight on the church premises.

“He (Chukwu) proceeded to the direction of the light to ascertain what it was only for the hoodlums to pounce on him, dealing him several machete blows.

“His cry for help alerted the Parish Priest, Akachukwu Ikedilo, and the gardener, Matthew Nwude. The gardener suffered the same fate as the catechist in the hands of the hoodlums.”

Speaking with journalists, Rev. Ikedilo decried the incident, narrating that, “The miscreants attacked them with machetes and axes. The church teacher and gardener were inflicted with severe injuries and left in a pool of their own blood,” he stated.

The President-General of the community, Hipo Onwuegbuke, said he got a distress call around 3.45am from someone who lived close to the church that the place was under siege.

“I immediately alerted the police and local vigilantes, who went to the church premises. Unfortunately, the miscreants had escaped through a neighbouring community,” Onwuegbuke stated.

Onwuegbuke added, “What I was told was that the catechist, who lives downstairs, came out to ease himself and saw two men. He went there and asked what they were doing and they attacked him.

“The man is still in hospital receiving treatment as we speak now. We have gone to the police and made statements, and the bishop of the diocese knows about the development.”