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Murdered businesswoman and philanthropist, Mrs Patricia Chidiac Hebeed, received several threat calls on a daily basis before she was killed in church last Sunday.
Anyanwu Stanley Emeka, her nephew who had been living with her for years, told pimpmynaija.com sources yesterday at the residence of the late sole importer of Erico Air conditioner at Azare Crescent, off Liverpool Road, Apapa, Lagos, that his aunt expressed fear concerning the several threat calls she was receiving from people she did not know early last year.
“She sometimes asked me to pick such calls and immediately I picked, the caller would just switch off the phone. Some of them would speak in Hausa language and because I don’t understand the language, I would only ask them to speak English, but rather they would just switch off the phone immediately,” he said.
Clearing the air on the purported divorce between his aunt and her husband of 24 years, Anyanwu said there was no divorce but that the man only went back to Lebanon, his home, with their four children after a misunderstanding, adding that her aunt had been frequenting the country since they left.
She was murdered inside Sacred Heart Catholic Church, Apapa, Lagos, on Sunday morning at about 10 o’clock after she was driven to the church in her YXR Bullet Proof Mercedes SUV with registration number BD 22 AKD, Lagos number, by his driver.
She is survived by two boys and two girls. The first-born is 23 years old.
Reverend Father Andrew Sullivan, an Irish priest, who is in charge of the church, told pimpmynaija.com sources he suspected a case of assassination.
The Reverend Father said the gunmen who came on a motorcycle did not rob anyone in the church.
The gunmen were also said to have left behind the deceased’s handbag as they rushed off immediately after the incident.
Hebeed was said to be standing close to the Reverend Father and some worshippers waiting for the second mass to commence when a gunman walked in and shot her.
“She was standing directly behind me when I was entering the church for the mass to commence. The assailant just walked up to her and fired a shot into her stomach. She slumped in a pool of her own blood without shouting or crying. The assailant immediately took to his heels in the middle of the confusion, jumped on top of a motorbike that was waiting outside and zoomed off. It was the gun shot that stopped me,” the Reverend Father said.
“The deceased was rushed to Lagoon Hospital, Liverpool area in Apapa. A few minutes after she was admitted, news came that there was the likelihood that she would survive it. As the mass went one, about ten minutes later news came that she had died. It was shocking to find out that somebody was shot in the church, but it was more devastating to find out that the person who was standing directly behind you that was shot had died,” he said.
Father Sullivan said the late Hebeed started worshipping in the church around January this year.
Although, the Reverend Father said he did not know her personally, parishioners informed him that she started with them this year and she never held any position in the church until her assassination.
He said from the look of things, it was safe to say that the assailant was inside the church before the arrival of the deceased. Sullivan said they had never witnessed such incident before beside the petty theft of mobile handsets and ladies purses since he assumed duties there over three years ago.
Meanwhile, plain-clothe detectives have been posted to keep watch at the premises of churches and mosques in the Lagos metropolis.
A police source told pimpmynaija.com sources that the command had detailed more policemen around churches and mosques to forestall any future occurrence.
Yesterday News
Gunmen stormed the Sacred Heart Catholic Church, Apapa on Sunday morning, killing a notable businesswoman, Patricia Obii Chidiak during mass.
The four-man gang whose motive could not be ascertained at press time arrived the Church located on Creek Road, Apapa, while the 10 o’clock mass was going, shot dead Chidiak, an Imo State-born society lady married to a Lebanese, simply identified as M Habib. The husband is believed to have traveled out of Lagos east weekend with the couple’s children.
Until her life was cut short abruptly on Sunday, Patricia Chidiak was engaged in steel import and construction business with her husband, but the couple’s marriage was alleged to have become frosty lately.
pimpmynaijaNews gathered that the gunmen stormed the Church premises for the dastardly act on two motorcycles. They also allegedly were armed with locally made pistols.
Two of the hoodlums went inside the Church premises, while the other two waited on their get-away motorcycles.
The victim who first arrived the Church for the mass, was approached by the gunmen, shot in the ribs region and her handbag was snatched.
In the pandemonium that followed the shooting, the gunmen hurried out of the Church premises, jumped on the bikes and zoomed off.
The deceased’s driver simply identified as Yahaya chased the gunmen using the victim’s Toyota Land Cruiser sport utility vehicle while anti-crime policemen from Apapa also pursued them in a patrol van.
The not chase towards Tin Can Port ended, when tankers parked on the bridge made traffic movement impossible, aiding the escape of the hoodlums.
Yahaya, the victim’s driver told pimpmynaijaNews he was sitting in the SUV outside the Church when he heard gunshots inside the church.
He said while wondering what was amiss, he saw one of the gunmen emerge clutching a hand bag he immediately recognized as belonging to his boss. Yahaya said he suspected she had been shot and decided to chase the men on the bikes.
Also speaking with Daily Sun, the cook who claimed to have swerved the deceased for eight years described her as a very nice woman who loved people without discrimination.It was gathered hat her husband left Nigeria last Friday on a trip believed to be to Lebanon with the couple’s children.
Both the Police Assistant Inspector General (AIG) in charge of zone 2, Mohammed Abubakar and Lagos Commissioner of Police, Marvel Akpoyibo visited the scene of the murder as anti-crime detectives launched an immediate investigation.
Contacted for information, Lagos Police spokesman, Frank Mba described it as a tactical case of murder. Mba said the anti-crime police patrol men who chased the gunmen could not fire at them to avoid killing innocent passersby.
The deceased’s corpse has been deposited in the morgue.
Only recently, the Imo State governor, Ikedi Ohakim set up the Imo Hall of Fame Committee, naming the late Obii Chidiak as member.
Friends and associates who learnt about the society lady’s death yesterday were too shocked, pleading for time to comment on the incident.
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