ENUGU, Sept 20 (The African Portal) – Gunmen shot dead a Catholic priest in southern Nigeria’s Enugu State on Friday, community members said, the latest in a spate of attacks targeting clerics in the region.
Rev. Fr. Mathew Eya, parish priest of St. Charles Catholic Church in Eha-Ndiagu, Nsukka, was ambushed while driving back to his parish along the Eha-Ndiagu road, according to witnesses.
The assailants, reportedly on a motorcycle, opened fire after forcing his vehicle to stop by shooting at its tyres.
“He was returning from Enugu when the gunmen closed in on him near the ongoing Type C hospital project. They shot at his car, immobilised it, and then killed him,” one community source told Reuters on condition of anonymity.
Another passenger in the vehicle was not harmed. The attackers fled the scene immediately.
Eya, who was from Ugbaike in Enugu Ezike, Igbo-Eze North Local Government Area, was pronounced dead at the scene.
As of Saturday, neither the Enugu State Police Command nor the Catholic Diocese of Nsukka had issued an official statement on the killing.
