By Our Correspondent <\/p>\n
It was jubilation at Catholic Church Ekwulobia as the Chancellor of the Catholic Diocese of Ekwulobia Aguata Local Government Area of Anambra State Rev. Fr. Lawrence Nwankwo who doubles as a Catholic priest has narrated his ordearl in the hands of gunmen that tried to abduct him during a notable attack at Ekwulobia roundabout on July 2025.<\/p>\n
Narrating the story of how he made it out alive during a thanksgiving Mass conducted by His Eminence, Peter Ebere Cardinal Okpaleke, Bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Ekwulobia, in his Igweakpu village, Ndiowu in Orumba North Local Government Area of the state, Nwankwo said that the gunmen put him in the trunk of his car to take him away, but God saved him.<\/p>\n
He said that he was on his way to Awka, when he got stuck in an unprecedented attack by masked gunmen that stormed the area around 7:30am amd opened fire from all directions for 48minutes (7:30am -8:14am).<\/p>\n
According ro him he stopped for the traffic light which was red on his arrival to the spot to turn green , signaling for his lane when the gunmen arrived.<\/p>\n
He said, “I was heading to Awka. The traffic light was red and I stopped waiting for it to turn green. But before this happened, there were gun shots in all directions.<\/p>\n
\u201cI saw people shooting from the Nanka road coming towards the roundabout. I saw a lady lying on the road divider on the way towards Isuofia. I guessed that she was hit by the bullet.<\/p>\n
“There were gun shots from the route to Oko, so I exited the car and re-entered because I just drive off from Aguata direction, and the way it happened I wasn\u2019t sure that running back would be safe.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was there in the car, in the passenger\u2019s side behind the driver\u2019s seat, then the door of the car was opened, and then one of them with wig and a hood ordered me to come down, to handover the key of the vehicle and to enter the trunk. So I did all that. <\/p>\n
“He then started the vehicle, marched on the breaks and said, \u2018we will go with this!\u2019 He left the engine running with the driver\u2019s door open, probably for easy escape.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo that was where I was, utterly helpless, but painfully aware of a possible ordeal in a kidnapper\u2019s den. The gunmen were shooting continuously. From time to time, I heard calls for \u2018another magazine!\u2019 maybe by those who needed to reload their guns.<\/p>\n
\u201cSuddenly, I heard a shout, \u2018who is that coming?\u2019 At that point, there was not only an increase in the number and intensity of gunshots but also the sound made by the guns was different. I also heard a command: \u2018don\u2019t shoot from behind!\u2019 It was after the ordeal that I learnt that the Joint Intervention Force arrived and dislodged the gunmen.”<\/p>\n
Continuing, the Catholic priest said that he remained in the trunk, noting that he remained surprised by his calmness and presence of mind in such a situation, including when a bullet struck his toe at exactly 7.48am.<\/p>\n
He added, \u201cHaving committed myself into God\u2019s hands, I was there waiting, not knowing whether, when and where another bullet might strike.<\/p>\n
\u201cThanks be to God that no other bullet hit me. I am sure that God intervened and saved me.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe vehicle sustained 19 bullet hits. Indeed, it was not simply riddled with bullets, but it was systematically shot at to neutralize any potential threat. <\/p>\n
“Even the spare tyre beneath the trunk where I was lying was struck by bullets. The passengers\u2019 seat where I hide myself before being ordered to the trunk by one of the gunmen was scattered by bullets.<\/p>\n
“It was clear that God used this gunman to get me to a safe part of the vehicle, and even in the trunk, God still provided an extra protection. Imagine that in the 44 minutes ordeal, and despite my total body surface, I was struck only on the toe \u2013 not even the big toe but the middle toe, the least of the places to affect someone adversely. <\/p>\n
“So, for me, God allowed this as a mark of remembrance \u2013 so that I do not forget his wonderous work that day. I am sure that if I had not sustained any wound, this story would sound like something made-up.<\/p>\n
\u201cGod lined up people through whom God saved me. God used the young man who ordered me to the trunk to take me to a safe place. God also used the men of the Joint Intervention Force who gallantly fought and dislodged the gunmen. <\/p>\n
“If they had not arrived at the time they did, my ordeal might have lasted longer in the kidnappers\u2019 den with the untold trauma to colleagues, friends and family. God came out strong and delivered me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Fr. Nwankwo recalled that after the gunfire died down, he raised his head, tapped on the window of the trunk and a young boy noticed and opened for him. <\/p>\n
He scampered out, picked his phone and gave his colleagues the good news that he was still alive.<\/p>\n
The Catholic priest added, \u201cSo, in the Thanksgiving to God, we invited friends and the community to come and rejoice with us, thanking God for saving my life.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By Our Correspondent It was jubilation at Catholic Church Ekwulobia as the Chancellor of the Catholic Diocese of Ekwulobia Aguata Local Government Area of Anambra State Rev. Fr. Lawrence Nwankwo who doubles as a Catholic priest has narrated his ordearl in the hands of gunmen that tried to abduct him during a notable attack at […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":10453,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[221,5964,5965,1749],"class_list":["post-10452","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-religion","tag-attack","tag-masked-gunmen","tag-stormed","tag-unprecedented"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10452","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10452"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10452\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10454,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10452\/revisions\/10454"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10453"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10452"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10452"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10452"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}