Wednesday 28 October 2015

Imo Police nabs 'Boko Haram' gang in the state who assassinated Rev Father Dennis Osuagwu

Imo Police nabs 'Boko Haram' gang in Imo who assassinated Rev Father Dennis Osuagwu
Who could dare kill a catholic priest in cold blood? 
It has now been revealed that members of a suspected Boko Haram cell operating in Imo State assassinated a Catholic priest, Rev. Fr. Dennis Osuagwu couple of months ago. The Imo State Police Command says it has smashed the killer gang that murdered the priest, whose gruesome death threw the entire state into confusion and shock.

According to a press statement made available to Vanguard, yesterday, by the Command’s Public Relations Officer, PPRO, Mr. Andrew Enwerem, the police stormed the hide-out of the hoodlums after getting a credible tip-off.


“Following a credible tip-off from a concerned citizen, operatives of the Imo State Police Command on October 25, 2015, stormed the hide-out of a notorious kidnap gang that killed Rev. Fr. Dennis Osuagwu of Imo State Polytechnic, Umuagwo, Ohaji/Egbema Local Government Area of the state,” the PPRO said.

While recalling that the hapless Catholic priest and Polytechnic lecturer was murdered August 15, 2015, Mr. Enwerem also disclosed that one Musa Isah, who also bears Yahaya Ibrahim, aka IBB, was the dreaded gang leader.

“One Musa Isah, who also bears Yahaya Ibrahim, alias IBB, was the leader of the four-man gang. He was arrested with gunshot wounds he sustained during the operation,”
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.

Rev Fr Osuagwu
Read More:
Details of how Catholic priest Desmond Osuagwu was gruesomely murdered in Imo State

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. Recall that Obinze is closed to a military barracks in Imo State.

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.


A reliable source told our correspondent that the suspected Boko Haram men 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. He may have spoken out against Boko Haram attrocities during his homilies at the military Barrack, which led to his death.

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