A Catholic priest at the Nnewi Diocese in Anambra State, Rev. Fr. Tobias, was shot dead by gunmen on Boxing Day.

The incident, according the chancellor of the diocese, Rev. Fr. Raphael Ezeogu, happened between 7pm and 8pm on the Onitsha -Owerri Expressway in Ihiala, Ihiala local government area of the state.

Fr. Tobias’s killing took place three days after a member of the state House of Assembly, Hon Justice Azuka, representing Onitsha North constituency, was kidnapped on Christmas Eve at about 9.20pm somewhere in Ugwunakpamkpa area of Inland Town Onitsha, while going home for Christmas.

A 75-year-old retired Anglian Archbishop of Nnewi Anglican Diocese, Most Rev. Godwin Okpala, is also missing.

Public relations officer of the state police command, SP Tochukwu Ikenga, said Hon. Azuka’s vehicle was found at the popular Upper Iweka area of Onitsha by a team of the state police command’s operatives.

Rev. Fr. Ezeogu in a statement yesterday said the slain priest, until his death, was a pharmacist and manager of Respective School of Nursing, Midwifery and Medical Laboratory at Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital, Ihiala.

Late Rev. Fr. Tobias, according to the chancellor, hailed for Ekwulumili.

“We solicit your prayers and Holy Masses for his (Rev. Fr. Tobias Chukwujekwu Okonkwo’s) eternal joy. May Fr. Tobias rejoice in paradise forever, Amen.

“Funeral arrangements will be announced in due course,” Rev. Fr. Ezeogu said in a statement.

Leadership