Mr Jovita Chukwuemeka Ofomata is the chairman of Ebubechukwuzo Foundation, owned by the alleged target of last Sunday attack by a gunman at St Philip’s Catholic Church Ozubulu.
He is also a childhood friend of the suspected drug lord. DAILY POST caught up with him and he tells all that he knows about his secondary school friend, High Chief Aloysius Ikegwuonu.
Please tell us who you are?
My Name is Jovita Emeka Ofomata. I am the chairman of Ebubechukwuzo Foundation in Ozubulu. The foundation is owned by High Chief Aloysius Ikegwuonu, who is also known as Bishop.
We heard that Ikegwuonu has been involved in a lot of philanthropy using the foundation?
Yes, He is a very kind man. I am surprised what people are saying about him. He is one man you will meet, and you would like to meet him again.
It is through this foundation that he built the Catholic Church where this incident happened. It is not only that Catholic Church, he has built two other Catholic Churches; St Aloysius at Eziora Ozubulu and St Francis at Egbema Ozubulu. Through this foundation, he has helped so many people and also granted scholarships to so many in Ozubulu and beyond.
What happened on Sunday has left us in a state of confusion and up until now, I must tell you that I am convinced that that act is pure terrorist attack. There are so many stories flying around that is not true, people are saying there is a problem between Ebubechukwuzo and some other people, and I can tell you that, that is not true, because till now, he has not lodged any complaint that he has a problem with anyone, so I don’t know where that information came from.
People say he is a drug lord, and that he took money belonging to another gang. So many stories, and I can tell you that we are even confused where some of these stories are coming from. What I can only say to this is that we will leave the police and other security agencies to do their work, and we urge them to do it well, and I believe the outcome of it will help us too to know what happened.
Ozubulu people are sad over this incident, but who knows, only God knows why it happened and also those behind this act, and the person or persons must be brought to book.
Now, let me ask you, where is your principal now
Well, Ebubechukwuzo just left a few days ago.
When precisely?
He left on Thursday for Lagos, and on Friday he departed to South Africa. As we speak now, he is in South Africa.
Tell us what business he does?
He is an estate developer in South Africa. He has built so many houses even here in Nigeria and sold. He is also into property management, and he is an importer. He deals with beverages, spare parts, which he imports from, China. Ebubechukwuzo is not a drug pusher.
Concerning when he will be back, I can tell you he will be back by next week. We told him what happened and he is surprised and he will be coming by next week to take his father’s corpse. You know his father was among the victims and his step mother was also shot. I was at the hospital and the step mother is doing well, and she was asking after his husband, and he was asking question and we did not tell her that her husband has died.
Ebubechukwuzo has not complained about having problems with anyone. We have called to ask him if there is anyone he has problem with and he said no. we asked him if there is anyone he is suspecting and he said no. He was here just last week, and when he came back here, he moved freely without security.
“So I do not know where that information that he is a drug lord emanated from. He played football with youths in the village, bought football boots and gave out to many footballers in the community before leaving.
How about the stories that he has problem with some people?
I think some of you should give us brief about what you know, or the people that are saying this should come and give information about what they know, because this thing they are saying is alien to us.
But can you say you know him so very well?
I know him well, he is my secondary school mate. I know him very well, we attended the same secondary school before we joined our areas of businesses. Asking me if I know him very well, there is no way you can know everything about your wife, let alone me knowing everything about my friend. What I can tell you is that he is very close to me and I know a lot of things about him, and if he had problem with anyone, he would have told me. If he were into drug, too, I would know. I have told you all that I know.
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