CSO Groups Demand Arrest, Prosecution Of Pastor, Others For Attempted Murder

The Rivers State Response Team on Violence Against Women and Children, have called on Rivers State Commissioner of Police, Olugbenga Adepoju, to order the arrest and prosecution of the general overseer of a Pentecostal church based in Umuebule 4 in Etche Local Government Area, Rivers State, a prince and over 30 other members of the church in connection with the attempted murder and defamation of Chief Gerald Okpara Obinozie at One Ward Estate, Umuebule 4.
The pastor and the prince were reported to have led over 30 members of the church, armed with various dangerous weapons to attack Chief Gerald Okwara Obinozie, inflicting machete cuts on him, poured fuel on him and asking female members of the church to urinate in buckets which the chief was forced to drink.
Tombari Dumka-Kote, Coordinator, Rivers State Response Team on Violence Against Women and Children, lamented that the 64-year old man was subjected to all manner of inhuman treatment, stripped naked, videoed and the videos posted on social media platforms, defaming him on false allegations, and was only handed half dead to the police after his colleague escaped and raised alarm for residents to come out.
Dumka-Kote who spoke to newsmen after an Oyigbo Magistrate Court remanded two of the suspects arrested in connection with the matter, called on the commissioner of police to order the manhunt, arrest and prosecution of the prime suspects and not allow the case be swept under the carpet. He said the team would leave no stone unturned in pressing for justice over the matter.
The team frowned on the alarming level of violence in the state within the month of June and warned all those still circulating the nude video and pictures of Chief Obinozie on social media to immediately discontinue the act.
“As a team, we are committed to curbing the growing menace of sexual and gender based violence in Rivers State, and suspects must be made to face the law to serve as deterrent to others,” Dumka-Kote stated.
Speaking on behalf of Concerned Civil Society Organizations who were also present in court, Chief Remi Agu, deputy state lead, Behind Bars Human Rights Initiative said the police should go after the suspects and have them face the law, as nothing short of it would be accepted.
Agu, who commended the police for not taking long in finding the truth, called on the police in the state to intensify efforts to arrest and prosecute the prime suspects and others.
Chief Okwara is said to be receiving treatment now at an undisclosed medical facility in Port Harcourt.
The Centre for Justice Empowerment & Development (C4J), Together to Win Foundation for the Deprived (T2W), and CAP-WIN Foundation were also at the Oyigbo Police Division to demand for justice on the matter.
Narrating his ordeal to newsmen, Obinozie, expressed appreciation to God for keeping him alive despite the incident, as the mob was sent to kill him.
The 64-year-old man wept while narrating how female church members urinated in buckets and forced him to drink from it while being tortured on the false allegation of trying to vandalize the church transformer. A police investigation has debunked the vandalization claim as untrue.