Gunmen stormed the Sacred Heart Catholic Church, Apapa on Sunday
morning, killing a notable businesswoman, Patricia Obii Chidiak during
mass. The four-man gang whose motive could not be ascertained at press
time arrived the Church located on Creek Road, Apapa, while the 10
o'clock mass was going, shot dead Chidiak, an Imo State-born society
lady married to a Lebanese, simply identified as M Habib. The husband is
believed to have traveled out of Lagos east weekend with the couple's
children.
Until her life was cut short abruptly on Sunday,
Patricia Chidiak was engaged in steel import and construction business
with her husband, but the couple's marriage was alleged to have become
frosty lately.
Daily Sun gathered that the gunmen stormed the
Church premises for the dastardly act on two motorcycles. They also
allegedly were armed with locally made pistols.
Two of the hoodlums went inside the Church premises, while the other two waited on their get-away motorcycles.
The
victim who first arrived the Church for the mass, was approached by the
gunmen, shot in the ribs region and her handbag was snatched.
In
the pandemonium that followed the shooting, the gunmen hurried out of
the Church premises, jumped on the bikes and zoomed off.
The
deceased's driver simply identified as Yahaya chased the gunmen using
the victim's Toyota Land Cruiser sport utility vehicle while anti-crime
policemen from Apapa also pursued them in a patrol van.
The not
chase towards Tin Can Port ended, when tankers parked on the bridge made
traffic movement impossible, aiding the escape of the hoodlums.
Yahaya,
the victim's driver told Daily Sun he was sitting in the SUV outside
the Church when he heard gunshots inside the church.
He said
while wondering what was amiss, he saw one of the gunmen emerge
clutching a hand bag he immediately recognized as belonging to his boss.
Yahaya said he suspected she had been shot and decided to chase the men
on the bikes.
Also speaking with Daily Sun, the cook who claimed
to have swerved the deceased for eight years described her as a very
nice woman who loved people without discrimination.It was gathered hat
her husband left Nigeria last Friday on a trip believed to be to Lebanon
with the couple's children.
Both the Police Assistant Inspector
General (AIG) in charge of zone 2, Mohammed Abubakar and Lagos
Commissioner of Police, Marvel Akpoyibo visited the scene of the murder
as anti-crime detectives launched an immediate investigation.
Contacted
for information, Lagos Police spokesman, Frank Mba described it as a
tactical case of murder. Mba said the anti-crime police patrol men who
chased the gunmen could not fire at them to avoid killing innocent
passersby.
The deceased's corpse has been deposited in the morgue.
Only
recently, the Imo State governor, Ikedi Ohakim set up the Imo Hall of
Fame Committee, naming the late Obii Chidiak as member. Friends and
associates who learnt about the society lady's death yesterday were too
shocked, pleading
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