The sudden disappearance of the retired Archbishop of the Niger Province and Bishop of Nnewi, Most Rev Godwin Okpala, has continued to generate tension, anxiety and concerns among residents and critical stakeholders in Anambra State.
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Okpala and his driver were said to have gone missing since Friday, December 6, after they went on a trip to the Umuchu community in Aguata Local Government Area of the state, but failed to arrive at their destination.
Our correspondent gathered that despite efforts by the church to establish contact with the 75-year-old cleric and his driver, no communication has been received and their whereabouts as well as the vehicle they were travelling in have remained unknown, 10 days after.
The Bishop of Nnewi Diocese, Rt. Rev. Ndubuisi Obi, who confirmed their disappearance to journalists, issued an appeal for intercessory prayers on Saturday, the following day, urging the faithful to seek divine intervention for the safe return of the Archbishop and his driver.
Obi said the matter had been reported to the police and that the church was awaiting the safe return of the cleric. But when contacted, the state Police Public Relations Officer, SP Tochukwu Ikenga, promptly said the command did not receive any such information.
Despite the anxiety the disappearance of the cleric is generating, the church has yet to make any official statement on the matter, thereby fuelling tension among its faithful.
Our correspondent who visited the Nnewi Diocese on Sunday, observed that activities were still in full swing despite the cleric’s disappearance.
Every effort to speak with the church’s officials proved abortive as no one was willing to comment on the development.
There has however been no communication from the abducted cleric or any call for payment of ransom by abductors since he went missing.
Following the development, some elders and stakeholders in the state under the aegis of ‘Elders and Stakeholders of Non-Indigenes of Anambra State, on Monday, lamented the continued insecurity in the state.
The group, which spoke through its leadership, Alhaji Abubukar Sani, Chairman and Chief Adebayo Adewusi, Secretary respectively, after a meeting in Onitsha, asked the state governor, Prof. Chukwuma Soludo, to declare a state of emergency in at least 15 out of the 21 local government areas in the state.
Sani and Adewusi said, “Many locations, including Onitsha, which hitherto were safe, have come under the attack of kidnappers and other criminals. The criminals in the state have no respect for any individual.
“For almost one week now, the retired Anglican Archbishop of Nnewi Diocese, Most Rev. Dr. Godwin Okpala, was abducted at Ezinifite in Aguata Local Government Area of the state. They have kept him in their den allegedly in the Umunze /Ogbunka areas.
“The 75-year-old cleric and his driver have been with unknown captors for 10 days now. This is unfair, inhumane and sacrilegious. They should release them. People should add their voice to the campaign to end kidnapping in Igboland.”
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