NGIGE SLAPS CATHOLIC PRIEST

As the November 16, 2013 gubernatorial election draws nearer, the APC
candidate, Senator Chris Ngige has embroiled himself in unwanted
controversy following allegations that he slapped a Catholic priest,
Rev. Fr. Evaristus Ezekwona at a burial ceremony in Nanka, Agulu,
Anambra State on Thursday.

Senator Ngige was said to have become furious when he erroneously
concluded that Rev. Fr. Ezekwona was deliberately standing in his way
and suddenly snapped, pouncing on the hapless priest, strangling him
first and then unleashing a torrent of slaps on both sides of the
clergy man's face.

The incident took place at the at the burial of the mother of the
Catholic Bishop of Awka Diocese, Bishop Paulinus Ezeokafor in Nanka
which attracted prominent sons and daughter the state including
politicians.

An eye witness, Obiora Onwuama, who observed the scuffle, revealed
that after unleashing his fury on Rev. Fr. Ezekwona, Ngige was not
fully satisfied and promptly instructed his personal aides to torture
him and they promptly pounced and inflicted more bodily injuries on
him.

"We were all horrified at the sight. Senator Ngige must have acted
blindly because the man was dressed in his cassock. There were screams
of shock and horror from the onlookers but Senator Ngige could not be
stopped. He must have mistaken Fr. Evaristus for a member of the
opposition party," Onwuama explained in total disbelief.

According to him, the earlier assumption that Senator Ngige may have
acted in error soon gave way to a deeper fear when upon his
instruction, his aides descended heavily on the hapless priest,
punching and kicking him to the consternation of onlookers.

The APC gubernatorial candidate seems
to be courting controversy with ease in recent times starting with his
ill-conceived statement justifying the deportation of 79 Igbos from
Lagos to the poorly timed kick-off of his campaign rally in Onitsha on
the same day that the Ofala Festival was taking place which provoked
the anger of the Obi of Onitsha, Igwe Nnaemeka Achebe and his cabinet.

Ngige was also recently reported to have engaged the Governor of
Anambra State, Mr. Peter Obi in a futile tussle for prominence when he
hijacked the governor's seat at a recent Mass conducted by Arch-Bishop
Valerian Okeke at the Onitsha Prisons and rebuffed all entreaties to
relinquish the seat.

The diminutive Senator has also been fingered for pulling down and
pouring black oil on the APGA candidate's billboards placed in
strategic locations across the state.