BY INIOBONG SUNDAY, Uyo
Angry youths, leaders, elders and stakeholders of Ijaws, Obolos and other ethnic nationalities in coastal communities of Ibeno Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State have alleged Police compromise in the recent arson attacks on the oil – rich zone.
Mercenaries allegedly from the neihbouring Eket and Esit Eket LGAs had launched midnight attacks on Sunday, February 10, 2025, setting houses, motorcycles ablaze with one person feared dead while dozens sustained varying degrees of injury.
In a swift reaction, the Police confirmed attack and blamed the sad incident to cult clashes in which the home of a traditional ruler was one of the houses razed.
At the outbreak of the hostility, the Police Public Relations Officer ,PPRO, DSP Timfon John, had hinted that operatives of the state Police Command were on the manhunt for the perpetrators after uncovering a case of cult clashes in Ibeno location, Inua Eyet Ikot phase 2.
“The Akwa Ibom State Police Command has intensified efforts to bring those responsible for the attack on residents of Inua Eyet Ikot Phase 2, Ibeno, to justice.
“The Command received a distress call about an attack in the community. Operatives were immediately mobilised to the scene, but the assailants had already fled. Preliminary investigations revealed that two buildings were set ablaze, while one man (name withheld) sustained gunshot wounds on his right leg and left shoulder. He was rushed to a nearby private hospital, where he is currently receiving medical attention.
“Following a fact-finding visit to the scene by the Deputy Commissioner of Police in charge of Operations, DCP Adamu Mohammed Bello, fresh intelligence has linked the attack to a cult clash.
“Further details gathered from a man (name withheld) indicated that the violence erupted when a suspected cult leader, one Iraq ‘m’, led his gang to attack their rivals at a Motel (name witheld), where they were lodging.
During the incident, four rooms were torched, and two motorcycles were burnt”, she recalled.
But the Ibeno branch Chairman of the Ijaw Youths Council ,IYC, Capt. Emmanuel Okpolo, dismissed the Police position as a flimsy excuses to cover their culpability in a pure communal conflict that has lingered on for years between the neighbouring Eket and Esit LGAs against Ibeno.
IYC leading, who described the situation as “worrisome, disheartening, disconcerting and annoying”, challenged to the state Police spokesperson to come up with the names of the cult groups that clashed in Ibeno land that led to such wanton destruction of properties and bloodshed.
Okpolo, who blamed the attacks on hired hoodlums from Eket and Esit Eket LGAs, recalled that their umbrella socio-cultural organisation, the Ekid People’s Union ,EPU, led by the President – General, Dr. Samuel Udonsak, bad earlier sent a threat “quit notice” statement to the people of Ibeno, warning them to vacate their land or risk heavy consequences.
He, therefore, warned of heavy response with devastating effects on the aggressors if pushed to the wall “because we can no longer wait for them to push us into the atlantic before we react”.
“We are by this resolution challenge DSP Timfon John, who is supposed to act as a thorough professional, to publish the names of the so called Cult groups, the possible cause of the clash, and the members of the purported cult groups who carried out the attack in Ibeno, failing which we would consider the position to be an utter falsehood, desperate, frantic, unacceptable and unprofessional attempt to cover up the real perpetrators of the dastardly attack, and a conspiracy against the people of Ibeno.
“It must be noted that DSP Timfon John is an indigene of Esit Eket LGA, so the speed with which she went to the press with a distorted revelation only shows that she intended to downplay the seriousness of that attack to undermine Police investigation into the incident.
“One could recall, with grim distaste, that sometime about November 8th, 2024, after an attack and destruction of properties, including government health centre, in Inua Eyet Ikot 2, by some Esit Eket sponsored thugs, the same DSP Timfon John, had issued a press release describing the incident as the handiwork of unknown hoodlums.
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