Anambra Poll: Ngige Slaps Catholic Priest

As the November 16, 2013
gubernatorial election draws
nearer, the APC candidate,
Senator Chris Ngige has
embroiled himself in
unwanted controversy
following allegations that he
slapped a Catholic priest, Rev.
Fr. Evaristus Ezekwona at a
burial ceremony in Nanka,
Agulu, Anambra State on
Thursday.
Senator Ngige was said to
have become furious when
he erroneously concluded
that Rev. Fr. Ezekwona was
deliberately standing in his
way and suddenly snapped,
pouncing on the hapless
priest, strangling him first
and then unleashing a
torrent of slaps on both sides
of the clergy man's face.
The incident took place at the at the burial of the mother of the Catholic Bishop of Awka Diocese,
Bishop Paulinus Ezeokafor in Nanka which attracted prominent sons and daughter the state
including politicians.
An eye witness, Obiora Onwuama, who observed the scuffle, revealed that after unleashing his
fury on Rev. Fr. Ezekwona, Ngige was not fully satisfied and promptly instructed his personal
aides to torture him and they promptly pounced and inflicted more bodily injuries on him.
“We were all horrified at the sight. Senator Ngige must have acted blindly because the man was
dressed in his cassock. There were screams of shock and horror from the onlookers but Senator
Ngige could not be stopped. He must have mistaken Fr. Evaristus for a member of the opposition
party,” Onwuama explained in total disbelief.
According to him, the earlier assumption that Senator Ngige may have acted in error soon gave
way to a deeper fear when upon his instruction, his aides descended heavily on the hapless
priest, punching and kicking him to the consternation of onlookers.
The APC gubernatorial candidate seems
to be courting controversy with ease in recent times starting with his ill-conceived statement
justifying the deportation of 79 Igbos from Lagos to the poorly timed kick-off of his campaign
rally in Onitsha on the same day that the Ofala Festival was taking place which provoked the
anger of the Obi of Onitsha, Igwe Nnaemeka Achebe and his cabinet.
Ngige was also recently reported to have engaged the Governor of Anambra State, Mr. Peter Obi
in a futile tussle for prominence when he hijacked the governor’s seat at a recent Mass
conducted by Arch-Bishop Valerian Okeke at the Onitsha Prisons and rebuffed all entreaties to
relinquish the seat.
The diminutive Senator has also been fingered for pulling down and pouring black oil on the
APGA candidate’s billboards placed in strategic locations across the state.