Ex-policeman, 2 others killed by gunmen in A’Ibom

A former policeman and two others have been killed at Ikot Udobong, Ikot Obioma and Edem Akai villages in Etim Ekpo Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State. The three men were killed when two rival cult groups – the Iceland (the Red) and Debam (the White) engaged each other in a battle of supremacy […]

A former policeman and two others have been killed at Ikot Udobong, Ikot Obioma and Edem Akai villages in Etim Ekpo Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State.

The three men were killed when two rival cult groups – the Iceland (the Red) and Debam (the White) engaged each other in a battle of supremacy in the last two days. Other people were also said to have sustained different degrees of injury.

It was learnt on Thursday that a retired policeman from Nkanang in Ikot Udobong, Okon Nkanang, and Akpan Inyang, from Ntuk in the neighbouring Ikot Obioma village were among those identified as the dead. 

A source said Inyang was killed by the Iceland group in place of his brother alleged to be a member of the Debam group. 

Inyang’s brother was said to have escaped after sighting the gun-wielding Icelanders on motorbikes en route their compound at Ikot Obioma.

Although the motive behind the killing of the retired policeman could not be confirmed as at press time, our correspondent learnt that the deceased might have been a security informant or a relation to the wanted member of the Debam group.

When the police spokesman, Odiko Ogbeche, was contacted, he could not officially confirm the incident, but said he heard of the killing.

“That information has not been given to me officially but I’ve just heard of it. I’m yet to get an official report; by the time we get it we will know whether he was a former police officer and from which area and all that,” he said.

Meanwhile, stakeholders and elders of Etim Ekpo have called on the Akwa Ibom State Governor, Mr. Udom Emmanuel, to save the people from the carnage.

A community leader, Chief Inyang Umoh, now in exile in Iwukem village, said those communities might be extinct if they were not rescued from the hands of cultists, kidnappers and criminals.

“No one else has the capacity to do this apart from government. We are approaching elections year, if these people are totally annihilated, who will vote for the politicians?” he queried.