Tension has mounted in Ukam community in Mkpat Enin local government area of Akwa Ibom State following violent clashes involving factional revenue collectors.
The violence claimed the life of one Samuel Monday Toby, with different degrees of injury inflicted on dozens of others, LEADERSHIP learnt yesterday.
It was gathered that armed policemen, who intervened to restore calm, had laid siege to the community, searching for the perpetrators including one Akanimo Bob, one of the personal assistants (PAs), to Governor Umo Eno. Akanimo Bob was reportedly detailed to the LGA, to maintain peace after the clash of two revenue groups at Ikot Akpabong market, which resulted in the death of Samuel Monday Toby, at Ikot Akpabong market.
LEADERSHIP checks revealed that trouble started at the Ikot Akpabong, market when the local government transition chairman, Mrs Mercy Bassey, dissolved the former revenue committee in the area without consulting the host communities laying claim to markets in the area.
An eyewitness Utibe Udo Odiong, recalled that the late Toby was ambushed and killed on Ikot Akpabong market day when his assailants in a mob action attacked him and he died on the spot, while traders scampered for safety.
“Since the incident, the transition chairman, Mrs Mercy Bassey, ordered the police to cordon – off all the local markets during the market days to prevent further attacks,” he explained.
In an open letter titled “Save my soul” addressed to Governor Eno and made available to newsmen in Uyo, the embattled governor’s aide, whose home was being monitored by the police at the time of filing this report, appealed for governor’s quick intervention to forestall further skirmishes and deaths.
Confirming the incident, the police public relations officer (PPRO), SP Odiko MacDon, said calm has been restored by tactical police operatives dispatched to the troubled area by the commissioner of police (CP) Olatoye Durosinmi, adding that the village head and some of the hoodlums suspected to have been involved in the crisis have been arrested, while “discreet investigations continue.”
