The Next Edition
  • Home
  • About Us
  • News
  • Featured
  • Investigations
  • Foreign
  • Special Reports
  • Entertainment
  • Interviews
  • Advert Rate
No Result
View All Result
The Next Edition
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • About Us
  • News
  • Featured
  • Investigations
  • Foreign
  • Special Reports
  • Entertainment
  • Interviews
  • Advert Rate
Home South-South

Cult war: Death toll rises to 54 in A’Ibom

Patrick Odey by Patrick Odey
August 16, 2017
in South-South, Top News
BREAKING: Monkey pox Spreads to A’Ibom, One case Recorded

Akwa Ibom state governor, Udom Emmanuel

0
SHARES
33
VIEWS
Share on FacebookShare on TwitterShare on Whatsapp

No fewer than 54 persons have been reported dead in Etim Ekpo local government area alone since the cult crisis began in the council, more than 2 years ago, the  Next Edition has learnt.

The siege on the restive communities including Udianga Emen, Abak-Obong, Ikot Udobong Oruk Ata II, Obong Ebot, continuedWednesday leading to total breakdown of law and order.

You might also like

Tinubu Bags Lifetime African Achievement Award In Ghana

NDLEA Uncovers Hidden Drug Storage Inside Fuel Tanker

20-ft Container Falls, Kills Two Dispatch Riders In Lagos

It was gathered that Ikot Udobong Village was still razed and markets destroyed in the last attacks by the hoodlums.

Social and economic activities in the affected villages have been disrupted and local residents fleeing from the troubled zones to seek safer environment elsewhere.

The Police Public Relations Officer, Chukwu Ikechukwu, however said calm had returned.

He said, “I have just finished speaking with the DPO of the council and he said the place is calm.”

However, community leader, Chief Udiong Etokakpan, told the  Next Edition in Uyo after assessment tour of the affected areas that “the exodus of the people from Udianga Enem to other safer areas was borne out of fear.”

He said, “The people had to migrate from the troubled area because immediately the incident happened, the local government chairman, Udeme Wilson Eduo, who is an indigene of Udianga Enem, had to evacuate his aged parents and other valuables to Uyo, the state capital.

“As the chief security officer of the local government, he has not visited the troubled areas of Udianga Enem, where he comes from, instead he is preparing for local government election to transit himself as elected chairman from November 11, 2017.”

A 45-year-old widow, who would not want her name mentioned, said:  “I have resorted to moving away from my community, Udianga Enem, to rent a house for myself and children at Iwukem, because my house in the village was attacked and all I laboured for taken away by cultists.

“They broke into my house and took my personal belongings including cash.  They also carted away several litres of palm oil I stored in drums for my customers, who come from the nearby Aba, Abia State to load the product.”

Disturbed by total breakdown of law and order, critical stakeholders have petitioned the Commissioner of Police (CP), Muazu Zubairu, accusing some political leaders.

In the petition letter, a copy of which was sent to the Inspector General of Police (IGP), the leaders indicted prominent politicians from the local government for propping leaders of notable cult groups to unleash violence on perceived political enemies.

“This petition is predicated on the recent killings and kidnappings in Etim Ekpo Local Government Area and environs where the entire communities are thrown into grievous sense of insecurity.

“The local government has recorded various formations and massive recruitment of youths into cultism. This is largely promoted by the political leadership of the area in the belief that armed youths must be cultivated and reared as an instrument of coercion and self perpetuation in power.

“Members of cult groups are usually nominated to serve as members of Local Government Transition Committees and are also given the privilege of occupying high position within the structures of political parties at the chapters and wards of the parties,” the petition reads in part.

Read also: Lagos dubbed 2nd least liveable city in the world

The coalition of petitioners under the aegis of Akwa Ibom Diaspora Union (AIDU), in Lagos, Port Harcourt and Abuja, also flayed the resurgence of violence particularly in Etim Ekpo, and blamed political leaders of fuelling the crises “for their selfish political interests.”

Charles Udo Atakpa, told a press conference in Uyo that “it is highly regrettable that politicians could be in the habit of using the youths to further their political ambitions at the detriment of human lives.”

They attributed the upsurge in political violence to the desperate ambition of the current interim chairman, Eduo, to transmute himself to elected chairman come November local government elections.

The Etim Ekpo Students World-Wide (EESWW), have become concerned in the crisis ravaging the council.

Leader of the students group drawn from the University of Uyo and other higher institutions, Comrade Estimfon Enang, has appealed to Governor Udom Emmanuel, to save the local government from the grip of desperate politicians using cult members as their private police against political opponents.

“Right now, I am done with my examinations and I can’t go home because my village is completely deserted following incessant cults attacks,” he lamented.

He asked the governor to look beyond the choice of Eduo, for the chairmanship position of the council.

But the council chairman has denied involvement in the crises, saying he was working with the Police and the Department of State Services (DSS) to bring the< violence to an end.

Tags: 54A’IbomcultdeathheadlinenewsNEXT EDITIONNigerian newspaperrisestollwar
Patrick Odey

Patrick Odey

Recommended For You

Palliative: FG Approves N5bn For States, LGs

Tinubu Bags Lifetime African Achievement Award In Ghana

President Bola Tinubu has bagged the Lifetime African Achievement award from the Millennium Excellence Foundation based in Ghana, NAN reports on Monday. Tinubu, while receiving the award, commended...

NDLEA Uncovers Hidden Drug Storage Inside Fuel Tanker

NDLEA Uncovers Hidden Drug Storage Inside Fuel Tanker

Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency have intercepted a fuel tanker that was modified to conceal and transport illicit drugs across Nigeria.   NDLEA’s Director of...

Lagos task force clears container trucks

20-ft Container Falls, Kills Two Dispatch Riders In Lagos

Two dispatch riders have lost their lives after a 20-feet container fell on them during a collision involving two fully loaded Mack trucks on Eko Bridge inward Alaka...

Police Arrest Woman Taking Daughters To Bandits For Sex

Money Ritual: 25-Year-Old Man Arrested With Fresh Human Organs In Lagos

Lagos State Command of the Nigerian police has arrested a 25-year-old man, Samson Oghenebreme, in the Odomola community of Epe for being in possession of human organs. The...

Next Post
INEC registers new party

INEC registers new party




Related News

Student Burnt Alive Over ‘Blasphemy’ In Sokoto

Student Burnt Alive Over ‘Blasphemy’ In Sokoto

Kano Records First COVID-19 Case As Former Ambassador Tests Positive

Kano Records First COVID-19 Case As Former Ambassador Tests Positive

Hilda Baci: Nigerian Chef Breaks World Record For Longest Hours In Cooking

Hilda Baci: Nigerian Chef Breaks World Record For Longest Hours In Cooking




The Next Edition

Office Address

3B, Agboola Aina street, Off Toyin Street,
Ikeja, Lagos.

Quick Contact Details

Phone:
08033018430
Whatsapp:
08051679910

Email:
[email protected]
[email protected]

Categories

  • Aviation
  • Beauty
  • Breaking News
  • Business
  • Columnists
  • Editorial
  • Entertainment
  • Fashion
  • Featured
  • Football
  • Foreign
  • Headline News
  • Home & Garden
  • Interviews
  • Investigations
  • North Central
  • North East
  • North West
  • Opinion
  • Parenting
  • Politics
  • Relationships
  • South East
  • South West
  • South-South
  • Special Reports
  • Sports
  • Top News
  • Vox Pops

© Next Edition Business Development Limited

  • About Us
  • Advert Rate
  • Contact Us
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of Use
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • About Us
  • News
  • Featured
  • Investigations
  • Foreign
  • Special Reports
  • Entertainment
  • Interviews
  • Advert Rate

© Next Edition Business Development Limited