Okorocha assures stakeholders of justice as murdered Catholic priest is buried
GOVERNOR Rochas Okorocha of Imo State has assured the people of the state that justice would be done to those who killed Reverend Father Cyriacus Onunkwo.
He said this yesterday when the remains of the late clergyman were interred at the Holy Trinity Cathedral, Orlu, Imo State, amid tears and encomiums.
The late Onunkwo was abducted by gunmen on September 1, 2017 at the popular Banana Junction, Amaifeke, Orlu, on his way to Osina, Ideato South Local Council of the state, to prepare for the funeral of his late father.
His lifeless body was found the next day in a bush around Omuma in Oru East Local Council of the state. His vehicle was also found intact.
Until his death, he was a priest of the Orlu Catholic Diocese.
After few days, the Imo State Police Commissioner, Chris Ezike, paraded five suspects, including an expolice Corporal, as his killers.
Okorocha, his deputy, Eze Madumere, Ezike and Director of Department of State Service (DSS), Denga Abdullahi, among family members, Catholic faithful, clerics and legion of sympathisers, attended the funeral.
The governor described the abduction and subsequent killing of the cleric “as the height of ungodliness and wickedness,” promising that the culprits would be brought to book according the law.
He commended the security agencies in the state for apprehending the suspected killers promptly, stressing that the deceased had paid a great sacrifice and expressed hope that the action would assist in eradicating crime in the state.
In his sermon, Bishop emeritus of Orlu Diocese, Gregory Ochiagha, saying Onunkwo’s abductors and killers were people who do not know God, descrbing the manner in which he was killed as wicked.
He prayed that God would make the suspects to know God and repent of their evil ways.
Ochiagha, described the late Onunkwo as a Priest who professed high “spiritual standards,” but who unfortunately died in the hands of kidnappers.
He prayed God to grant his soul eternal rest.