OZUBULU CHURCH: POLICE UNVEIL SUSPECTED KILLERS

Police have unmasked two suspected persons believed to have masterminded the Ozubulu killings - The suspects are Prince Charles Obi aka Gozila and Dickson Nwodi - Both are also currently serving murder sentences in South Africa.

 Barely three months after the invasion and killing of 18 worshippers at St Philip Catholic Church, Ozubulu, police have unmasked two suspected persons believed to have masterminded the crime. Garba Umar, the Anambra state commissioner of police, told journalists on Wednesday, November 1, at Amawbia near Awka that two Nigerians serving murder sentences in South Africa prisons have been accused as the killers of the worshippers.

The suspects, he said, are Prince Charles Obi aka Gozila and Dickson Nwodi. Umar stated that Obi and Nwodi who hail from Nnobi and Oba communities of Anambra respectively had mandated one Quintus Anayo alias Obasanjo equally based in South Africa to inform Ozubulu elders that the duo in prison custody were behind the invasion.

 The police commissioner said that the account of Anayo was in line with the investigation of police on the matter. Umar said that already police had established contact with Interpol on the need to extradite the suspects based in South Africa.

The police boss said that police in the state were already intensifying arrangement to arraign the three suspects earlier arrested in connection with the killings within. They would be arraigned within the week, he said. Umar thanked the public for the information which he attributed to the successes already recorded by police in the investigations.

The 18 church worshippers were killed by gunmen while 10 others were injured when they attended early morning Sunday mass at St Philip Catholic Church, Ozubulu, on August 6, 2017. The police and the state government had blamed drug war on the invasion.

Also, the traditional leader of Ozubulu located in Ekusigo local government area of Anambra state gave insights on the massacre of some parishioners of St. Philips Catholic Church. According to Igwe Nnamdi Oruche, the problem started as far as 2007 when Ozubulu Development Union, ODU, which has a branch in South Africa, wanted to elect a new president-general there.