'How $5M settlement caused massacre' - Insiders claim

Following the brutal massacre that took place at the St. Philips Catholic Church, Ozubulu, Anambra State, on Sunday, August 6, 2017, where 13 worshippers were gunned down by a gunman during a morning mass, more revelations have been revealed as to the cause of the bad blood.

According to some Igbo people resident in South Africa who are in the know, the cause of the bloody war that has seen many people killed both in that country and in Nigeria stemmed from a botched agreement between the alleged principal actors, Chief Aloysius Ikegwuonu also known as Bishop and his kinsman identified only as Obrocho.

It was gathered that Bishop and Obrocho had been involved in a drug deal with the proceed amounting to millions of dollars and instead of sharing the money realized, Bishop played a fast one on Obrocho and made away with the money.

ALSO READ: "Anambra Killings: Gang war blamed for Ozubulu church massacre"

The insiders insist that when the crisis first started, the Igbo community in South Africa under the leadership of the Eze Ndigbo, Eze Martin Emechebe and his cabinet members, waded into the matter in order to resolve and bring lasting peace between the two brothers on one hand and their groups on the other hand.

This is how one of the Igbo community members captured the incident:

"At the peace meeting, it was resolved that Bishop will have to pay $5 million as part of the final settlement of the rift in the interest of peace and he accepted the settlement and a time frame was fixed for the payment.

However, before the date, Bishop’s camp suffered serious attacks from Obrocho’s camp, and the wife of Ebube Dike who was Bishop's right-hand man was shot dead in Ozubulu alongside other people by unknown gunmen.

The last straw that made the matter more difficult to be resolved was the brutal murder of Ginika, Bishop’s schoolmate and close friend at Comprehensive Secondary School, Ozubulu. Ginika was Bishop's company’s manager.

Ginika who hailed from Mbaise in Imo State, had disagreements with Bishop and moved to Obrocho’s camp and joined hand to secure a drug route which they call park.

However, Ginika was killed by unknown gun men and Bishop was suspected to be behind the murder which he had denied.

After Ginika’s death, the two camps declared an all out war and since then, have been killing themselves to the extent that the traditional rulers of Ozubulu and Mbaise where Ginika hailed from had intervened in the matter to no avail.

We know that the attack at the Ozubulu church was carried out following the information that Bishop was around and was billed to commission some roads in the community and attend church for Thanksgiving on the Sunday that the church was attacked.

However, he hurriedly left the town due to an intelligence report from locals that strange faces were spotted in the community before the attackers struck on Sunday."

ALSO READ: "Anambra Church Killings: Alleged drug baron, Bishop visit victims, promises largesse [Photos]"

Though Bishop has continued to deny his involvement in any drug dealings or have any knowledge why the attack was carried out in a church he built and donated to the Nnewi Parish, fingers continue to be pointing at him.