COMMUNITY WANTS ALLEGED DEPLOYMENT OF FAKE MOBILE POLICEMEN PROBED
By Jimitota Onoyume
UYO- AKWA Ibom State Government was, yesterday, urged to probe the origin and mission of fake mobile policemen allegedly deployed from Eastern Obolo Local Government Area headquarters to the crisis torn Ikot Akpan Udo vicinity in Ikot Abasi Local Government Area.
Village Head of Ikot Akpan Udo, Chief Oscar Abel, told Vanguard that these fake mobile policemen, led by one Inspector Umoh, had been shooting in the area indiscriminately.
Abel said he told the leader of the fake mobile police team that they had no right to escort Eastern Obolo indigenes across Ikot Akpan Udo, where the Andonis had burnt and killed 13 persons in their August 28, 2008 mayhem, adding that the mobile policemen said they were asked to escort the Andonis for a project in the area.
Chief Abel said he was surprised that the legitimate mobile police team at Ikot Akpan Udo did not arrest the fake mobile police team.
He said: 'The fake mobile police team which has been camping at Idung Obo for about two weeks now constitutes a security threat in the area. When our youths confronted them and told them they cannot carry out any alleged project in this crisis zone, they fired several shots to scare the people away. We are insisting that these murderous Andonis will never live in our neighbourhood. Government should develop Otunene peninsula for them to live in.'
Vanguard recalls that Andonis of Eastern Obolo council area allegedly killed 13 Ikot Akpan Udo citizens and burnt the village in an unprecedented mayhem on August 28, 2008. Since then, Ikot Akpan Udo citizens have been scattered as refugees in several clans of Ikot Abasi council.
Akwa Ibom State Government empanelled the Chief Magistrate Ime Ekam commission of enquiry in November 2008 to examine remote and immediate causes of the conflict. The government furthermore enacted a boundary committee law, to address the boundary problem between Ikot Abasi and Eastern Obolo local government areas, among others.
Government's white paper on the commission of enquiry's report is still being awaited.