Owo attack victim’s brother reveals that they didn’t foresee the attack

The younger brother of one of the victims, (Christopher Nwanyi), of the gunmen attack in St. Louis Catholic Church, Owo where so many lives were lost last Sunday has given a heart wrenching account of the tragedy that befell their family inside the church last Sunday.

When asked if anyone had seen any revelations about the incident, he said no one saw it. His statement read,

”We had no premonition about the incident before it happened. My late brother was a practicing Christian, most of the time he was the one who made the announcement during the Sunday service at the altar, it was while he was coming down from the altar that the attackers started shooting and was hit on his chest.

“Since the incident, his wife has been crying, threatening to take her life. I learnt her blood pressure has risen beyond normal. His wife’s name is Florence, we are from Amy in Igbo-Etiti Local Government Area of Enugu State.

“The entire incident is devastating because, in my town, whenever we were having any engagement, it was my brother who would represent our village as the eldest. But   now the mantle of leadership has fallen on me at this age. That is the challenge. And how the wife will be able to cope with the teenage son is the problem. I have my own children also, I am 49 years old, I have four boys.

The location of the Church is inside the town. It is the first Catholic Church in Owo, it is a big Church like a cathedral. So, the question is, how did they enter the church and they started shooting without anyone coming to rescue anybody till they left.”

The state government passed the law on ban on open grazing. Since then, there have been clashes which usually happened in the bush not in the town.

Kelechi Ugwummadu, a timber dealer in Owo, lost his mother and a niece during the attack. His account: “My daddy has been down; I was just trying to console him. He said he can’t forget my mother because my mother saved his life twice. When they were young, he was sick and thought he would die.  It was my mom that helped him.

“I was born in Akure. My father came to Owo after the war. We were born and bred in Owo, it was only higher institution that took us out of Owo in Ondo.

“For now, most of the dead bodies are yet to be released to their families. My nephew who is two years old sustained injuries, he had bullet wounds on his back. He is the younger brother to Ekene, my niece that was killed with my mother. Yesterday, I saw the video of how my mother and my four-year-old nephew were murdered. It is uncalled for. Look at my mother, we were preparing for her 70th birthday next month.

“I am the first son, but I have an elder sister. I was not in the Church when the attack occurred.

“I was at a meeting after the church service in Akure when my brother called me to say that his wife called to say that some gun men came to St. Francis Catholic church, Owo and that they killed Mama, and our nephew. Immediately I left for Owo and on getting there, I went straight to FMC and I saw how my deceased nephew.

Relating how some of the worshippers escaped, he said, “The way Catholic Churches are built is that you have the pew on the left and on the right. Those on the left pew didn’t suffer much casualties unlike those on the right which recorded more casualties. Most of the people who escaped sat at the left side in the church.

“The people who attacked the church came from the entrance that faced the main road. The few people that escaped passed the other entrance to the toilet.

Everyone in the family will miss the small boy, he was very intelligent and smart. I cried so much yesterday.

“My mom was an easy going woman who could not hide anything from anyone. Anytime you asked her for anything, unless she didn’t have, she would always give. She was the best woman. She was not a troublesome person. When I saw her corpse at they mortuary yesterday, I cried bitterly.”