Monarch's Assassination; Akpabio charges security agencies to fish out the culprits
Akwa Ibom state Governor Chief Godwill Akpabio has directed the police and the State Security Service, SSS and other security outfits to comb the nooks and crannies of the state and beyond to fish out the culprits who assassinated the Paramount Ruler of Nsit Ubium Local Government area Edidem Robert James Obot on Sunday.
The Governor gave the directive Monday when the State Chairman of Chiefs Okuku Uwa Umo Adaika led other paramount Rulers to Government House, Uyo, to intimate the governor on the murder of their colleague, by unknown assassasins.
Expressing deep shock over the sad incident, Chief Akpabio said; “ this is the first time since Akwa Ibom state was created that people will have the audacity and effrontery to go and carry arms and assassinate God's anointed monarch of that magnitude”.
He described late Edidem Obot as a great patriot of the state noting that “even if human beings were not able to investigate and bring the culprits to book, the God of our fathers, the God of our monarch will rise and fight his war and the culprits shall be brought to book”.
He said his government was very determined to fight crime in all ramifications stating that the current trend where at the slightest provocation people carry arms against one another in other parts of the country should not be allowed to take root in Akwa Ibom state .
The governor promised that government would reward anybody that will volunteer useful information that will lead to the arrest of the assassins.
He assure the royal father that government “will look at issues surrounding the paramount ruler in the last few months, issues bothering on the local government area and issues bothering on the traditional institution in the state to ensure that proper justice is done” and directed the Commissioner of Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs to provide security to all royal fathers in the state.
Earlier, Okuku Uwa Umo Adiaka who doubles as the Paramount Ruler of Obot Akara and the Chairman state council of Chiefs said the news of the assassination of their colleague came to them as a surprise.
He pleaded with the people of Akwa Ibom state to join hands with the security agencies to fish out the assassins and find out the cause of the dastardly act.
“I have been on earth for seventy two years now and I have not seen where a monarch of that magnitude was assassinated perhaps for a minor matter or squabble either in the community or outside the community”, he said.