By Emmanuel Ugwu-Nwogo
A gang of armed men Wednesday morning struck in Umuahia, the capital City of Abia State, and kidnapped a Catholic priest and an unidentified woman in two separate incidents.
Rev. Godfrey Mark Chimezie of St. Theresa Parish, Olokoro, Umuahia was kidnapped by the hoodlums along the Enyiukwu road in Ohokobe Afaraukwu Ibeku in Umuania North Local Government of the state.
Accordjng to eye witnesses, the priest was on his way home after a morning mass at St. Gabriel Catholic Church, Okpururie Afaraukwu, when the hoodlums intercepted him.
The armed men were said to have forced the priest out of his Toyota Corolla car and bundled him into their SUV and sped off to an unknown destination.
Chimezie, who hails from Enugu State, is still young in the priesthood as he was ordained early, this year.
In the second incident, a woman who had gone to a filling station for petrol, along Aba road in Umuahia, fell victim to the kidappers as she was snatched and taken away.
The Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO) of the state Command, SP Geoffrey Ogbonna, confirmed the second incident involving a female victim but said that the police were yet to receive information on the kidnapping of the Catholic priest.
He told THISDAY that the woman was double-crossed by the hoodlums as she was coming out of the filling station opposite Madonna Catholic Hospital, along the Aba road in Umuahia and was taken away by the armed hoodlums. It was not clear if the two kidnap incidents were carried out by the same gang.
Meanwhile, the authorities of the Umuahia Catholic Diocese were yet to issue any official statement on the kidnapping of the priest but the police spokesman advised them to go to the police and make a formal report on the incident to enable the police commence investigation.
