Details of how Catholic priest Desmond Osuagwu was gruesomely murdered in Imo State

Details of how Catholic priest Desmond Osuagwu was gruesomely murdered in Imo State

Residents of Owerri, the Imo State capital, were recently thrown into panic and apprehension when the body of a clergy man, Reverend Father Dennis Osuagwu, was discovered after he was allegedly murdered by identified assassins.

The details of the assassination was sketchy at the time is now emerging. Dr Osuagwu who was working under the Archdiocese of Owerri, was also lecturing at the Imo State Polytechnic, Umuagwo. 

His body was discovered in a lonely bush along the Owerri Portharcourt road in the morning of Saturday, August 14.

The priest, who is a member of the congregation of the Claretian Missionaries, Eastern Province, Nigeria, was said to be heading for the St. Mark’s Catholic Chaplaincy, Obinze Barracks, where he served as a Chaplain to conduct the day’s Eucharistic mass for the men of the Nigerian Armed Forces.

It was gathered that the assailants waylaid him on the road at a pathway before Avu junction, along the Port Harcourt Road, Owerri, dragged him out of his SUV before  stabbing him in his neck and his stomach.

Father Osuagwu

A reliable source told our correspondent that the suspected cultists dragged him into a nearby bush, tied him on a tree and killed him. According to the source, the assailants did not take any money from the priest’s car. Osuagwu, who hails from Obowo Local Government Area of the state, was until his untimely death, the Director of Students Industrial Works Experience Scheme at the Imo State Polytechnic, Umuagwo.

The cleric, who celebrated his 25 years anniversary as a priest last year, was reported to be among the top contenders for the position of Superior- Genera l of the Claretian priests, slated to hold sometime in 2016.

The Imo State Police Public Relations Officer, Andrew Enwerem, confirmed the incident. He said,

“We heard the information that morning and immediately moved our men to the scene of the incident. The state police command is intensifying all efforts to see that the perpetrators of the dastard action are brought to book. We must surely get them.”

Enwerem, said the priest was assassinated in a bush path, adding that the police are suspecting that it was a clear case of assassination.

“The priest was murdered along a very lonely bush path that would have led him into Port Harcourt Road. I wonder why the Catholic priest chose to use such a lonely bush path, knowing fully, the recent ceaseless bickering and wrangling stemming from Imo Polytechnic.

"It was a gruesome murder. There is the likelihood that the assassins carefully monitored the priest’s movement and laid ambush for him on his track.

"The youths of the community joined the police in searching the surrounding bushes. The hoodlums simply perfected and carried out their damnable act before waning into the reedy air.”

Although no one could give an immediate reason of the motive behind, Father Osuagwu could have been killed, because of his no-nonsense postore. As a preacher he spared no one said his mind at all times, including during meeting with his superiors.