Gunmen have killed the founder of the Mount of Solution Redeemed Church (MSRC), Apostle Elisha Asuquo and the pastor in charge of the church, Aniekan Ibanga, in Ikot Ekang, a community in Abak Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom state.
The clerics were shot dead by yet-to-be-identified gunmen who stormed the National Headquarters of the Church at about 7:30pm at the weekend, disrupting a Parish meeting which was ongoing.
A resident told the Leadership that the assailants stormed the church premises on a motorcycle and after committing the crime, left through Abak-Ikot Ekpene Federal Highway.
It was gathered the late Apostle Asuquo hailed from Adiasim in Essien Udim Local Government Area, while Pastor Aniekan Ibanga, was a native of Ikot Obioikpa village, Afaha Obong Clan, in Abak LGA
According to Church sources, Apostle Asuquo, was handling a crucial and heated marital reconciliation matter between a lady and her estranged husband before the sad incident.
A community leader in Ikot Ekang, Bishop John Jeremiah Kpongkpong, described the killing of the two clerics as shocking, noting that such an ugly incident had never happened in the community before.
“It was around 8 p.m., I was attending a church programme when somebody called and asked me whether I had heard that Prophet Elisha and his Pastor had been shot dead. While still on that call, another person came in and told me that Prophet Elisha and Pastor Aniekan had been killed,” he narrated.
“I had to close from the Church and rush to the palace of the Village Head to inform him of what had happened. After informing the Village Head, he instructed me to call the Police, which I did,”
“On getting to the Church premises, I saw many people gathering while Policemen from Abak Division were performing their duty.”
Chief Christopher Udotim, leader of the delegation from Ikot Obio Ikpa Village where the late Pastor hailed from, at the Palace of Village Head of Ikot Obioikpa, said they were in the Palace “to enquire whether there was any issue reported about the Church before, which could have led to the killing of our son, Pastor Aniekan Udosen.”
Also speaking, the Youth President of Ikot Obio Ikpa Village, Mr Alphonsus Alphonsus Okoro, described the killing of their son as painful and a great loss and called on the two villages to cooperate and investigate the matter with a view to bringing the culprits to book, to which the Youth President of Ikot Ekang village, Mr Godwin Adahada, agreed.
Responding, the Village Head of Ikot Ekang, thanked the Village Head of Ikot Obioikpa, and his delegation for the visit, describing the incident as unprecedented in the history of the village and urged security agents to spread their dragnet wide enough to fish out the perpetrators.
The spokesperson for the state police command, CSP Odiko MacDon, who confirmed the incident said the Commissioner of Police, CP Waheed Ayirara has ordered a manhunt for the suspects.
He assured that the ongoing discreet investigations would culminate in the arrest and subsequent prosecution of the culprits.