Matilda Omonaiye/
A Facebook post on the Anambra church massacre has attracted widespread condemnation.
A Facebook user, Chinasa Nworu, had put up the post claiming the massacre, at the St. Philips Catholic Church, Ozubulu, in Ekusigo Local Government Area, early Sunday morning, was carried out by Hausa-Fulani militias.
His post, however, drew the ire of Nigerians across ethnic and religious divides, who unanimously accused him of attempting to instigate ethnic violence.Police said, Sunday afternoon, the casualty from the attack had risen from the earlier reported eight, after three more victims were confirmed dead. 15 other victims are still in the hospital.
Police also said result of preliminary investigation revealed that the attack was carried out by someone in the locality.
The Commissioner of Police in the state, Mr Garba Umar, further said the attack was a spillover of an ongoing war between rival gangs operating outside the country, whose “members are indigenes of Anambra State”.
The Facebook post by Nworu, around 1pm, read: “The Hausa Fulani attacked Biafrans inside the church this morning ozobulu in Anambra. Biafrans, Nigeria govt have come for war.”
The post has been shared over 4000 times as at 10pm, on Sunday.
The same user also shared another post, late Sunday evening, where the writer claimed authorities were covering up the real identities of the attackers and insisted they were not locals but strangers that wore military camouflage to disguise their appearance.
Some of the angry reactions to his earlier post included a user that admonished him: “Get ur fact right idiot. Do not be causing problem. Hausa Fulani my foot.”
A few more of the over 500 reactions to the post can be seen below:
Another user, however, claimed that worshippers at a Catholic Church in Lagos were also told by the parish priest during the evening mass, on Sunday, that the attackers were Fulanis.
