By TONY ANICHEBE, Uyo

There was panic in Inen Ikot Esse village in OrukAnam Local Government Area on Sunday as gunmen invaded one of the Pentecostal churches (name withheld) shooting the church Elder while members scampered for safety.

It was learnt that the cultists numbering 10 stormed the church premises at about 7:05am and went straight to the vestry where church officers were praying before commencement of worship service.

An eyewitness Mr Sunday Ibanga said the Elder was accosted and shot severally on the head forcing other members to lie on the floor as the assailants engaged in a shooting spree in the church premises.

Narrating the incident, Ibanga said it happened as the new pastor posted to the church assumed duty the same Sunday before he reached out to the church headquarters for a vehicle to evacuate the victim to hospital.

Speaking at the hospital Tuesday, the wife of the victim, simply identified as Mrs Iniobong, said the victim left for church that early morning to attend to his duties leaving her and the children at home to join him for the Sunday service later.

She said while preparing to join husband in church she heard loud screaming outside their compound from people who came to inform her that her husband has been shot in the church vestry during prayers.

“When I heard that my husband had been shot, I summed courage and rushed to the church believing that I would be taking his corpse for burial. But I met policemen helping me to carry my husband to hospital.

“Since yesterday my husband is surviving through oxygen here in the emergency ward. We need money to pay for various tests before surgery to remove the bullets in his head.”

She said the incident occurred while there was negotiation between Debam and Iceland rival cult confraternities in the area to end the protracted hostility that had disrupted normal activities in the community. (Text, excluding headline, courtesy New Telegraph)

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