AFRICA: NIGERIA: DEFENCE OF FR. BONAVENTURE

ALL AFRICA REPORT: The Catholic Diocese of Aba has risen in defence of its priest, Rev. Father Bonaventure Akwarandu, who was arrested by soldiers and branded a suspected kidnaper and said the priest was wrongly accused as he was never involved in crime nor has he any link with the criminals terrorising Abia State.
Bishop of Aba Diocese, Rt. Reverend Vincent Valentine Ezeonyia, absolved the priest of any wrong doing, and argued that the fact that he was found living close to kidnappers did not make him one because he is a soldier of Christ, Father Akwarandu, who is the parish priest of St. Michael's Catholic Church Umuezi in Obingwa Local Government, was arrested by soldiers, who stormed the den of a kidnappers on October 10 and subsequently took him away for investigations, thereby sparking insinuations that the soldier of Christ had links with the criminals.
Ezeonyia in explaining the long silence of the Church on the matter, told newsmen that it decided to keep quiet over the arrest to enable security agencies carry out their investigations and now it has become necessary to put the record straight because: "The truth has emerged that so far nothing incriminating has been found against Father Akwarandu".
He said the priest had no links with the kidnappers even though their base was behind his church, adding that the traumatised priest had complained to him (the Bishop) about his predicament and was not expected to act as police informant "when there was no guarantee that anyone who dared to play such a role would not be victimised," he said.
"Father Akwarandu had on many occasions informed me that the presbytery in Umuezi had become very dangerous as a result of the bullets frequently shot into the church premises by the kidnappers. As a follow up to his reports, he picked up five spent empty shells from his compound, intending to show them to me as proof of the point he has been making. These were the spent bullets in the pigeon hole of his vehicles, which he himself showed the soldiers," the Bishop said.
He lamented that the "unfounded allegations" against Father Akwarandu carried in the media "have caused untold embarrassment and damage to the Reverend Father and the Catholic Church in the Diocese of Aba, Nigeria and indeed worldwide".
The Catholic Bishop of Aba also decried the desecration of the Blessed Sacrament in St. Michael's Church as well as the damages inflicted on the Church during the raid by soldiers, explaining that the two alleged kidnappers said to have been quartered in the Church were those who sought refuge in the Church while escaping from soldiers.
"In as much as the Church respects whatever the government does to bring sanity to the state, the Church takes an exception to the desecration of the Blessed Sacrament and other damages done to the Church. No offence should warrant the desecration of the tabernacle by anybody," he said.http://allafrica.com/stories/201011151659.html

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