‘Seminarian’ Nabbed Stealing Car During Ordination

What could make a man steal during a religious right under the cover of priestly ordination?

This is question may residents of Owerri, the Imo State capital are cracking their brains to unravel, after a 35-year-old man, Gabriel Okani, disguised as a seminarian to steal.

The incident happened right at the famous Assumpta Cathedral in the Owerri archdiocese of the Catholic Church, in the course of a priestly ordination.

No wonder worshipers descended on him with the rage of a lion, almost mobbing him.

A Punch correspondent gathered that the priesthood ordination was presided over by Archbishop AJV Obinna.

In the midst of it, the fake seminarian in a full regalia was perfecting his plans to steal one of the parked vehicles on the church premises, but for the alertness of some of the people in the compound

He was almost lynched and the resultant fracas momentarily disrupted the ordination service, as the archbishop and other clerics interviewed the suspect before policemen came and took him away.

A worshipper said that the suspect confessed that he was a serial car thief and specialized in stealing Toyota products. He added that his gang members were waiting for him outside the church premises.

The Police Spokesperson, Andrew Enwerem, who confirmed the development, said that the suspect was in police custody.

He said that the suspect came to the church adorned in a seminarian attire with the sole aim of stealing a vehicle from the compound.

Enwerem said that the community policing strategy of the Inspector General of police which the State Commissioner of Police, Dasuki Galandanchi, was implementing was yielding results.