A 50-year-old father of three from Ikot Akpa Idem village in Ukanafun local government area of Akwa Ibom State was Monday killed by unidentified gunmen suspected to be members of a cult group.
It was gathered that Imoh Etuk was shot by the hoodlums at about 7:48 a.m. while he was returning from his farm to pick some produce.
“The village is completely deserted because of cults’ activities and majority of the local residents have fled the community to safer grounds”, a local vigilante, who would not his name in print told our correspondent.
An indigene of the community, who spoke from his new location in exile, Friday Eyo, said that the deceased returned to the village from Lagos following the ban on commercial motor-cyclists by the then administration of Mr. Raji Fashola.
He said Etuk was also engaged in petty trading along with his motorcyclist business, adding that “things were not so rosy before the gunmen invaded the village, forcing everybody to flee from Ikot Akpa Idem”.
According to him, “From January till date, many persons have been killed in the small village. The village has become a desolate as its inhabitants had fled to other places in Akwa Ibom and other States.”
“Some gunmen have killed one Imoh Etuk from Ikot Akpa Idem in Ukanafun Local Government Area. He ran to Usung Atiat, the neighbouring village where the wife’s family lives.
“He went home to pick some food items from his farm. They intercepted and shot him dead. Nobody lives in Ikot Akpa Idem anymore. The village is now desolate,” he stated.
DSP Odiko O. MacDon, the Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO) when contacted by newsmen, said he was yet to be fully briefed on the incident by the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) in-charge of Ukanafun.
