It was black Sunday for parishioners at St
Thomas Moore Catholic Church, Sobe, Owan
West Local Government Council of Edo State on
25 August when the parish priest, Rev.Father
Peter Ayala, was found dead in his room. The
incident came as a rude shock to them because
the parishioners were already seated for the
Sunday Mass awaiting the arrival of the 46-
year-old priest, before the tragic news came.
The cleric was found in a pool of blood of his
own blood with a locally made gun and a plier
beside him. It was said that the priest may
have been cleaning his gun when it fell and
exploded, killing him instantly. Sunday
Vanguard learnt that the Church informed the
family that the Rev.Father may have died
through his own gun. But some parishioners
believed he might have been shot by an
unknown person, since he could not have been
cleaning his gun when he was already dressed
for Sunday Mass. And this was where the
family disagreed with the leadership of the
Church in Auchi Diocese.
While some persons also feel Father Ayala
might have committed suicide, the family
believes very strongly that their son may have
been murdered. Sunday Vanguard was
informed by a close family source that the
deceased, from Ososo in Akoko Edo Local
Government Council of Edo State, was a
gentleman born as a twin but the other one
died at birth.
*Ayala…controversial death: murder or
suicide?
It was learnt that he hadp a difficult
upbringing due to the fact that he became an
orphan at a very tender age, as a result of
which he struggled to survive with the
assistance of siblings. He grew up a dedicated
Catholic like other members of his family and
was ordained into the priesthood in 1997.
Though Sunday Vanguard learnt that the
deceased has been transferred to several
parishes, he never complained and never
showed any sign of frustration in his calling.
Apart from his spiritual life, the deceased was
academically sound. He obtained a master’s
degree from the Catholic Institute of West
Africa, Port Harcourt and before his death was
a lecturer at the Major seminary in Ekpoma.
His perceived smooth life is why the family is
angry that people are insinuating that he might
have committed suicide.
Following the conflicting reports on the issue,
the Catholic Bishop of Auchi Diocese, Bishop
Peter Dunia, said the Church, in collaboration
with the police, will get to the root of the
matter. While warning members of the public
against making comments that may jeopardize
the investigation, he asserted that,
“authoritatively and officially, the cause of
death is yet unknown”, pointing out that
though the Church was traumatized by Ayala’s
death “but we will wait for the result of the
investigation”.
According to him, “although the body of Rev.
Fr. Peter Ayala was found lying lifelessly in his
pool of blood with a locally manufactured gun
and a big spanner on his body and floor,
respectively, they were only some of the clues
on which experts examinations must be
effected to ascertain more authentic proofs of
what had led to the death.” He berated the
media that concluded that the late priest
committed suicide.
“Whatever must be stated by anybody hitherto
were probabilities in as much as experts
examinations could prove otherwise. For all
others who are prone to engage in some
innuendos as regard the death of Rev. Fr. Peter
Ayala, I wish to caution so that they keep in
mind that death is death, whenever, wherever
and in whatever way and manner it occurs, it
cannot and should constitute an occasion for
derision, uncharitable assumptions and
calumny against the living, the dead or both”.
The bishop said he knew the late “calm,
modest and well behaved Peter Ayala who
worked under me as a seminarian when I was
the parish priest of St Joseph Catholic Church,
Emeora seventeen years ago and as a priest
who collaborated with me nonetheless
similarly in the Diocese of Auchi until his
passage from this sinful world.”
The deceased’s family expressed disgust with
what they described as the hasty manner the
Catholic Church is creating the impression that
the deceased might have died through his own
gun.A family source, who did not want his
name in print, told Sunday Vanguard: “The
Church has not helped matters. Whereas police
investigation is still going, they are saying it
could be suicide and it was pasted on the
website of the Catholic Diocese of Auchi.
The story they told the family members does
not look straight to us. What we have been
told is that they found him dead and the gun
was by his side, then there was a spanner
beside him, which looks like he was servicing
the gun. The question is that if you shoot a
gun, does it not vibrate. If the father was
servicing the gun and it actually went off, that
gun should not be found by him there.
So the whole thing looks fishy. We are asking
the question, what killed him? The story they
are giving us does not make sense. And nobody
was there, nobody has said he was there when
it happened; so we are only creating a
scenario, that this is the possibility. But,
beyond everything, should the Church
pronounce that he was killed by the gun when
the police is yet to investigate the case. The
family wants to know what or who killed our
brother because the explanation we have does
not make sense. He was a gentleman. That is
why we believe that something is wrong
somewhere. We believe he was killed by some
body and God w
ill go after the person”.
And to buttress what the family said, a close
friend of the deceased and a priest too, who
did not want his name in print stated that his
colleague could not commit suicide. According
to him, “ Peter was a priest I have known long
ago. He was about four years our junior in the
senior seminary. He was a good natured young
man which anybody who knew him could attest
to.
He was quiet, peace loving and very very calm.
He never spoke so much and when he spoke he
was soft spoken. And Peter was somebody who
never picked up issues with anybody even
when you offended him, he found it difficult to
hurt anybody. So it was shocking for anybody
to say that Peter killed himself. Peter that we
knew could not commit suicide. He was a
young man who believed in the spirituality of
the priesthood”.
When contacted, Edo State Police Public
Relations Officer, DSP Moses Egoavoen, said
the command had commenced investigation
into the matter. “Investigation has long
commenced. The corpse has been deposited at
the mortuary; I can assure you that at the end
of the day, justice must be done. Autopsy will
be done, but if it is a self-inflicted injury, it
will be treated as a natural offence, but if
somebody is involved, the person will be dealt
with”.
0 100000:
Post a Comment