Ogona Anita
A Port Harcourt based Pastor, and General Overseer of the Divine Grace City of a Great King Deliverance Ministry, Pastor Ugochukwu Udechukwu Hede, have been remanded in custody of the Port Harcourt Correctional Center by an Oyigbo Chief Magistrate Court, over the attempted murder and defamation of Chief Gerald Okpara Obinozie at One Ward Estate, Umuebule 4, Etche Local Government Area of Rivers State.
The court made the order, after Pastor Hede, was arraigned before the court on a 4-count charge boadering on conspiracy, assault occassioning harm, malicious damage and attempted murder.
Pastor Udechukwu and one Prince Thompson, still at large, are alleged to have led over 30 members of the church, armed with various dangerous weapons to attack Chief Gerald Okwara Obinozie, inflicting matchet cuts on him, poured fuel on him and asking female members of the church to urinate in buckets of which Chief Gerald Okwara was forced to drink.
Tombari Dumka-Kote, Coordinator, Rivers State Response Team on Violence Against Women & Children, in his reaction, hailed the decision of the court, while condemning the action reportedly carried out by the pastor and his church members.
Dumka-Kote who dismissed claims of fleeing suspects that Chief Gerald Okwara Obinozie, have been an oppressor against a few in the estate, emphasized that there is no justification for violence, and subjecting the 64 year old to all manner of inhuman treatment, stripping him naked, videoing and have the videos posted on social media platforms, defaming him on false allegations, and handing him half dead to the Police after his colleague escaped and raised alarm for residents to come out.
He recalled that the Oyigbo Chief Magistrate Court have on the 30th of June 2025 also remanded two other suspects, Okwudiri Justice and Victor Emmanuel Okoli on related charges in connection with the matter.
A statement made available to the press and signed by the Teams Head of Communication and Public Enlightenment, Queeneth Igbara, also called on the Rivers State Commissioner of Police to order the manhunt, arrest of one of the prime suspects Prince Thompson, hinting that the Team will follow the matter until justice is served.
The Team regretted that people after committing crime still try to justify their actions and frowned at the alarming level of violence in the State within the last 2 months.
‘As a Team, we are committed to curbing the growing menace of sexual and gender based violence in Rivers State, and suspects must be made to face the law to serve as a deterrant to others’, the statement read in part.
Chief Gerald Okwara is said to be recovering from the trauma and injuries sustained during the unprovoked attack on him.
The Centre for Justice, Empowerment & Development (C4J), Together to Win Foundation for the Deprived (T2W), and CAP-WIN Foundation were also at the Oyigbo Chief Magistrate Court.
Narrating his ordeal to newsmen, Chief Gerald Okwara Obinozie, expressed his appreciation to God for keeping him alive despite the incident, as the mob was sent to kill him.
The 64 year old man wept while telling how female church members urinated in buckets and it was forced to drink while been tortured on false allegation of trying to vandalize the church transformer. A report Police investigation has shown is untrue.
Queeneth Igbara
(Communication/Public Enlightenment officer)
09025764565
