By PAMELA EBOH, Awka

Founder and Spiritual Director of the Holy Ghost Adoration Ministry, Uke, Anambra state, Rev. Fr. Emmanuel Obimma, a.k.a Ebube Muonso, has escaped death by the whiskers following an attack on him by suspected cults boys in his community, Nkwelle-Ezunaka.

It was gathered that the attack came on the heels of his homily at a funeral service held at St William Catholic Church in Nkwelle Ezunaka, where he preached against cultism.

Obinna had regretted that cultism has permeated the very fabrics of the community.

Narrating his ordeal the Catholic clergy said on Tuesday: “In the course of my homily during the funeral mass on June 12, 2020, I vehemently preached against cultism and cult groups, terrorism and hooliganism, which was common among young men in the community.

“Our youths are used to forming cult groups, which they use as weapons to intimidate people and unleash terror on innocent residents of the community.

“In Nkwlle-Ezunaka, people, including elders and the elites, sleep with their two eyes opened, because of cultists. Many elderly men and women in the community have been rough-handled, beaten and flogged by these hooligans.

“So, during the burial mass, I seized the opportunity to condemn their evil activities, and to caution them. As I was preaching that day, the congregations were shouting, saying that they knew only Fr. Ebube Muonso could have the guts to speak out against the evil perpetrated by the cult groups in that village.”

The Catholic priest maintained that the stock-in-trade of the group called ‘Searchlight’ was to rape, maim, extort and terrorise innocent members of the community.

He said: “A lot of young girls have been raped. Parents, who send their daughters on errands, get the shock of their lives when their girls return with the complaint that they were gang-raped by the Searchlight boys.

“They equally torture and flog elderly people, who kick against their activities. Story was told of a woman, who was going out with his son on an errand. And unfortunately for her, the bad boys harassed her, beat her up and stripped her before her son; claiming that she looked at them.

“Whenever people have cases in the village, they would hire these boys to fight for them, after paying the amount of money the cult boys would demand. In fact, for an average Nkwelle-Ezunaka person, it would be better for a person to be taken to the police station or charged to court than for one to fall into the hands of these boys.

“They have suppressed and inflicted injuries on many people. Imagine small boys flogging elderly people in the community. They engage in broad day robbery and all forms of criminality. They would claim omnipotence and untouchable. People, I must tell you, are afraid of them. They have constituted themselves into both police and the court of law; such that when you report any case to them against another person, they will go for war on your behalf. They arrest, try, convict and punish their victim.”

While expressing disappointment that majority of people he assisted in one way or the other were among those that attacked and accused him of land grabbing, Obimma said that the boys were not alone in their nefarious activities; but were only acting out scripts of their sponsors.

“I have empowered a good number of them. I’ve sent a good number abroad in order to improve their lives. I offered scholarships to the siblings and children of these people, who are after my life.

“Ebuka Obiozo, one of the cult boys that attacked me, was among the people I strived to lift out of poverty. I gave him money several times. It was because of him that I invited footballers like Emenike and Kanu Nwankwo to take him up in order to enhance his football career. I am yet to understand the core reason for the attack launched against me. They are doing this to intimidate me as they use to intimidate others; but Fr. Ebube Muonso cannot be intimidated!” he added.

Ebube Muonso urged the court to ensure that both himself and innocent members of the Nkwelle-Ezunaka community get justice for evil meted on them by the boys.

“The boys are into blood covenant and I urge government to beef up the anti-cult unit of the police force, so that cultism would be reduced.

“I hold no malice against them. The reason they are still in the correctional facility is to discipline them, so that when they come out, they will become better and more responsible members of the society. They need to be tamed, so that they will understand that hooliganism is bad. I do not pray that they stay long in prison. My aim is to tell them that what they did was wrong,” he noted.

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