Gunmen have killed a Catholic priest, Rev. Fr. Mathew Eya, in Eha-Ndiagu community, Eha-Alumonah, Nsukka Local Government Area of Enugu State.
Eya, the parish priest of St. Charles Catholic Church, was shot dead on Friday evening while returning from Enugu.
Sources said the assailants, riding on a motorcycle, intercepted his vehicle near the site of an ongoing Type C hospital project. They reportedly shot at the tyres, forcing the car to stop, before firing multiple shots at him at close range.
While some accounts suggested the attack was linked to kidnapping, a source told DAILY POST that the incident appeared more like an assassination, as the priest was alone in the vehicle and no abduction took place.
“He was coming back from Enugu. The gunmen on a motorbike closed in on him close to where the Type C hospital project is ongoing.
“They demobilised the vehicle tyres and the vehicle was forced to a stop. They then got close and shot him several times at close range.
“So, it doesn’t look like a kidnapping situation,” he said.
The late cleric was a native of Ugbaike in Enugu Ezike, Igbo-Eze North Local Government Area.
As of press time, the police and the Catholic Diocese of Nsukka had yet to issue an official statement on the killing.