Another gruesome murder

Gunmen kill Lord’s Chosen Church’s pastor in Lagos 

THE Lagos State Coordinator of The Lord’s Chosen Charismatic Revival Ministries in Lagos, one Pastor Chukwuemeka Akpokpo has been shot dead by suspected assassins.

Pastor Akpokpo was shot dead on Monday afternoon by two gunmen operating in a commercial motorcycle popularly known as Okada, who operated like armed robbers. With the incident, Lagosians are worried over the rising level of insecurity in the state, urging the police to live up to its creed by ensuring safety of lives and property.

The Pastor was actually trailed to the bank near the Apple junction, Amuwo Odofin area of the metropolis by the suspected killers, who shot him severally, making sure that he died before they took off from the scene.

A church member, who simply identified himself as Matthew told newsmen that, “Pastor Emeka was really assassinated by those who are eyeing his position. He is the second in command in the church and many see him as being too favoured by the General Overseer (GO) of the Church, Pastor Lazarus Mouka.

Many of them were jealous of the Pastor who was trusted by the GO.” The clergy was taken to the church where members prayed for him rather than rushing him to the hospital. “In fact, the church did not believe that the Pastor was actually dead.

We kept him in the church premises from 12.30p.m. to 8.00p.m. praying that God should revive him because we loved him so much. He was later taken to his hometown, near Umuahia, Abia State. Those who took him home left Lagos at about 8:00pm,” Matthew said. People have called for vast police probe of the killing.

Matthew specifically wants the police not to conclude that the pastor was shot dead by armed robbers. “Why I said Police should not conclude it was armed robbery operation is that the Pastor offered all he had to the gunmen and they still went ahead to kill him. He was shot severally until he gave up the ghost.

His killers made sure that they pumped enough bullets into his body and that he died before they left the scene. If it was armed robbery, the robbers would have collected the money and left in a hurry, but the killers made sure they stayed until he died,” he said.

Another church member, who claimed he saw Pastor Emeka a few hours before he died noted: “We all went for crusade on Sunday and we slept together until the Monday morning that he was killed. He had a premonition of his death as he was complaining of tiredness, but I thought it was because of the crusade we went for in Ogun State as he was too busy and active during the crusade.”

A police source that spoke on the condition of anonymity said: “We are not going to conclude that it was an armed robbery attack. We may not rule out assassination but on the other hand, it may be robbery attack and he might have recognised one of his attackers. We have to expand our findings.” As at yesterday, worshippers were still going to the church to know whether the news of the pastors’ death was true.

Many of them were weeping and being consoled while many others were seen in groups discussing the death of the clergy. Lagos State police spokesman who was contacted over the incident urged The Guardian to be patient with him, promising to call back.