…Bishop’s followers brutalised

By Innocent Onoja

BOMADI—Some youths in Amatebe area of Bomadi town, Bomadi Local Government Area of Delta State, have attacked and wounded some members of the Bomadi Vicariate of the Catholic Church, over the decision of the head of the Vicariate, Bishop Hyacinth Egbebo, to convert the waiting hall of the landing jetty at the waterfront of the church’s Cathedral, to a cafeteria.

The jetty, which is also named after the bishop of the cathedral, Hyacinth Egbebo, was built by government at the Cathedral’s waterfront to ease visitors of the stress of ascending the coast of the Forcados River to the mainland.

According to one of the victims, trouble started when Bishop Egbebo told the youths who had turned the waiting hall to a gambling and smoking joint, his plans to convert the hall to a cafeteria in order for it to be more useful to the people of the community, rather than being a haven for gamblers and smokers, as it is located in front of the cathedral, which is headquarters of the Vicariate.

Angered by the bishop’s decision, the youths allegedly descended on the church members who accompanied the bishop while they were trying to put the place in order, beating them up with clubs.

He said that as a result of the injuries they sustained, they were rushed to a nearby hospital for treatment. He also alleged that the youths threatened to burn down the hall as hoodlums did to the Catholic Coventry at Patani in the state.

Responding to this reporter, Bishop Egbebo said it was the prompt response of the Joint Task Force, JTF, to the distress call to them, that the situation was arrested. He noted that his decision to convert the hall to a cafeteria, which will accommodate a computer training centre for youths, was also confided in some leaders of the community who applauded the plan.