Gunmen open fire on Apostle Weeks' lawyer

dimeji akinloye

January 27, 2017 9:16 AM

The attackers reportedly accused the victim of encouraging Apostle Weeks to tell lies before the panel handling the Uyo church collapse case.

Uyo Church collapse

Unknown gunmen on Thursday, January 26, shot

The gunmen were said to have stormed the lawyer's house in the early hours - 2:27 am - of Thursday in Uyo, Akwa Ibom state, and shot him twice in the leg.

According to Punch, the assailants carted away four laptops.

It was reported that the attack is connected to the probe of Apostle Weeks' collapsed church building, which killed many worshippers and injured hundreds in Uyo last December.

The newspaper cited a family source who said the attackers accused Ekpo of being responsible for the lies Weeks told the Commission of Inquiry investigating the building collapse.

The gunmen, according to the source, claimed that Weeks never lies and that the drama that was seen in the Commission was purely Ekpo's handiwork.

Confirming the incident, the state chairman, Nigerian Bar Association, Mr. Aniekan Akpan, said Ekpo is receiving treatment at an undisclosed hospital.

"I am just from the hospital now, where Ekpo is receiving treatment. The police are working on it," he said.

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The Police Public Relations Officer in the state, Cordelia Nwawe, denied knowledge of the attack.

Ekpo was the lead counsel for Weeks during the Commission of Inquiry set up by the state government to determine the immediate and remote cause of the collapsed Reigners' Bible Church building in Uyo Village Road in December 10, 2016.

In defending Weeks, Ekpo had demanded that the cleric be compensated for the damages incurred in the accident.

dimeji akinloye