Police deny arrest of perpetrators of Owo church massacre
Ondo State Police has falsified the rumours that the suspected gunmen, who launched a massive attack on Owo Catholic Church, have been arrested.
It was rumored on Thursday evening that the masterminders of the horrific attack were arrested by a joint operation of the Nigerian Army, Amotekun Corps and other security agents.
Recall that on June 5, some gunmen attacked St. Francis Catholic Church, Owaluwa Street, Owo, during church service.
Forty of the innocent worshippers lost their lives in the church, several others sustained various degrees of injuries and have been hospitalized.
It was gathered that 61 out of the 87 survivors are currently on admission in different hospitals and 26 already discharged.
A viral video had surfaced online which indicated that the suspected gunmen had been nabbed by the joint force.
In the video were a crowd of people, suspected to be residents of Owo town, who surrounded the palace of the Olowo, Oba Ajibade Ogunoye, to confirm if the suspected gunmen were truly arrested on Thursday evening.
The monarch, Oba Ogunoye, addressed the crowd in Owo dialect. He said the news of the purported arrest has come to him just the way the news has come to the residents. He therefore urged them to remain calm.
A source in the palace of Olowo, anonymously revealed that the news was only a rumour.
“It was only a rumour. Youths besieged the palace in their thousands when the rumour broke out, but it was discovered to be a false alarm.
“Kabiyesi was only trying to hail their doggedness as he told them that, ‘I heard the rumour like you too’, admonishing them to be patient to authenticate it.
“But it was later discovered that the story was about a group arrested along the Owo/Benin boundary in possession of dangerous weapons,” the source told newsmen.
The spokesperson of the police in the state, SP Funmilayo Odunlami, who also falsified the rumour, said: “I can not confirm anything like that. There is no story like that in the state.”