The attack on worshipers last Sunday in Owo, Ondo state took every one by surprise. No one saw it coming, although there had been clashes with herdsmen following the enactment of a law banning open grazing by the state government. But the clashes happened in the forest and not in the town.
For many families, in Owo, last Sunday’s attack in broad daylight will remain a sad chapter of their lives as their loved ones were killed. Some of the families have been expressing their pains and sorrow.
The younger brother of one of the victims of the gunmen attack, Christopher Nwanyi, has given a heart wrenching account of the tragedy that befell their family inside the church last Sunday.
The 45-year-old timber dealer in Owo said he would forever live with the trauma of the death of his 55-year-old elder brother and his niece whose lives were brutally cut short last Sunday during the attack on St. Francis Catholic Church, Owa-luwa Street, Owo, Ondo state. He gave vivid details of the ugly incident.
His account
“I was not in that church on the day of the tragic incident because I was in another parish. My elder brother and his family attended the church where the attack took place. He went with his son but his wife didn’t go to church that day. She said she had pains on her feet and wouldn’t be able to attend.
Their 15-year- old son, Victor, who is in SS1, however miraculously survived the attack. When the gunmen started shooting inside the church, he laid down flat on the ground. He decided to lie in a pool of blood so that if the attackers saw him they would think he had already been shot. That was how he laid down until the attackers finished and left.
By the time he stood up, he discovered that his father had been shot. He then began to look for his sister and and at the same time seeking help for his wounded father because he was still talking but gave signs of giving up. When help eventually came and he was taken to Federal Medical Center, FMC, he was however rejected for lack of space.
They then rushed him to St. Loius hospital which is also a Catholic hospital in Owo. That was when they discovered he was dead. I didn’t know what was happening as I was searching for them, before I heard that his father had died
“I asked about the children and I was directed to go and check at the mortuary. As I was going towards the mortuary, I saw the son on a bike on his way to the mortuary and when I asked after his father, he told me he was dead. I asked after his sister and he showed me her corpse which he was taking to the mortuary.
Immediately I started crying, sympathisers gathered, they carried the corpse from him and took it to the mortuary. And we started consoling him, that at the age of 15 years he could summon the courage to carry the corpse of his sister. The sister was eleven years old.