Following a renewed cult rivalry, two persons from Inen Ikot Eteye and Ikot Inyang villages in Oruk Anam local government area of Akwa Ibom State were on Sunday killed and one was kidnapped.
The killing is reported to have resulted from an alleged cult clash between members of Debam and Iceland confraternities.
The attack, which occurred at 7 p.m. on Sunday claimed one Ubong Okon Udo Ibanga, a drinking joint owner who operated opposite the vill primary school in the area.
An eyewitness, Nse Okon Udo who spoke with our correspondent on telephone said the second victim popularly known as Urua Idung Okuwa who lived near the community market square was gunned down by the same squad that killed the drinking joint operator.
The eyewitness who could not mention the name of the second victim said the two victims died at the same spot after their skulls and stomachs were pierced by several gunshots, leaving them in a pool of blood.
According to him, the same gang escaped to the neighbouring village in Ikot Inyang and kidnapped one welder.
Another member of the community who pleaded anonymity said the community was thrown into panic by sporadic gunshots that caused residents to flee their homes for safety.
“As I speak with you now, I ran away from my house since yesterday to hide in another village. When we heard the shootings, we knew that the “boys” are here again.”
“Before we knew it two young men were down. I packed few things like a pregnant woman carrying her emergency bag with my family and ran away to this place now”
“I don’t know when I would return home. Our village is not safe for everybody. The cultists always attack rival group members but now they operate house-to-house every night stealing, killing and kidnapping.”
He said since the killing of the chief security officer of the road construction company in the area last month, the entire area has been constantly threatened by insecurity.
“There is shooting here every night and we don’t know what to do again. We live in fear. By 6 p.m. you can’t see anybody on the road. Please, tell government to help us.”
He said the police evacuated one of the corpses on Sunday night while the corpse of the other victim was not found.
“We saw blood and some human flesh indicating that the victims are not alive,” he said
The Police Public Relations Officer, Akwa Ibom Police Command, CSP Nnudam Fredrick in an interview with our correspondent said the matter has not been reported by the DPO of Oruk Anam local government area where the incident occurred.”
“As a matter of fact, I had a meeting with all the Divisional Police Officers (DPOs) from the 31 council areas of Akwa Ibom State this morning but the DPO of Oruk Anam never briefed me on the incident.”
“Thank you very much for the information. I would call the DPO now for details,” he said.
(Daily Independent)
