The police have been accused of compromise in the recent spate of attacks and mayhem unleashed on parts of the location of the present Ibeno people of Akwa Ibom State.
Youth leaders, elders and stakeholders of Ijaw, Obolo, and other ethnic nationalities in the coastal communities levelled the accusation.
The stakeholders of Ibeno Local Government Area said the police compromised in the recent arson on their oil – rich zone.
Mercenaries allegedly from the neighbouring Eket and Esit Eket LGAs had launched midnight attacks on February 10, 2025, setting houses and motorcycles ablaze, with one person feared dead, while dozens suffered various degrees of injury.
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In a swift reaction, the police confirmed the attack but blamed the sad incident on cult clash, saying it led to setting ablaze the home of a traditional ruler
When trouble started, the Police Public Relations Officer in Akwa Ibom State and a Deputy Superintendent of Police, DSP Timfon John, said that operatives of the command were on the manhunt for the perpetrators after uncovering a case of cult clash in an Ibeno location, Inua Eyet Ikot Phase 2.
John said: “The Akwa Ibom State Police Command has intensified efforts to bring those responsible for the attack on residents of Inua Eyet Ikot Phase 2, Ibeno, to justice.
“The Command received a distress call about an attack in the community. Operatives were immediately mobilised to the scene, but the assailants had already fled.
“Preliminary investigations revealed that two buildings were set ablaze, while one man (name withheld) sustained gunshot wounds on his right leg and left shoulder.
“He was rushed to a nearby private hospital, where he is currently receiving medical attention.
“Following a fact-finding visit to the scene by the Deputy Commissioner of Police in charge of Operations, DCP Adamu Mohammed Bello, fresh intelligence has linked the attack to a cult clash.
“Further details gathered from a man (name withheld) indicated that the violence erupted when a suspected cult leader, one Iraq ‘m’, led his gang to attack their rivals at a Motel (name withheld), where they were lodging.
“During the incident, four rooms were torched, and two motorcycles were burnt.”
But the Ibeno branch Chairman of the Ijaw Youths Council, Captain Emmanuel Okpolo (retd), dismissed the police position as a cover up excuse to shield their culpability in a pure communal conflict that has lingered on for years between neighbouring Eket and Esit LGAs against Ibeno.
The IYC leader, who described the situation as “worrisome, disheartening, disconcerting and annoying”, challenged DSP John to come up with the names of the cult groups that clashed in Ibenoland that led to such wanton destruction of properties and bloodshed.
Okpolo, who blamed the attacks on hired hoodlums from Eket and Esit Eket LGAs, recalled that their umbrella socio-cultural organisation, the Ekid People’s Union, led by the President-General, Dr. Samuel Udonsak, had earlier sent a threat “quit notice” statement to the people of Ibeno, warning them to vacate their land or risk heavy consequences.
He, therefore, warned of heavy response with devastating effects on the aggressors if pushed to the wall “because we can no longer wait for them to push us into the Atlantic before we react”.
He said: “We are by this resolution challenge DSP Timfon John, who is supposed to act as a thorough professional, to publish the names of the so called Cult groups, the possible cause of the clash, and the members of the purported cult groups who carried out the attack in Ibeno, failing which we would consider the position to be an utter falsehood, desperate, frantic, unacceptable and unprofessional attempt to cover up the real perpetrators of the dastardly attack, and a conspiracy against the people of Ibeno.
“It must be noted that DSP Timfon John is an indigene of Esit Eket LGA, so the speed with which she went to the press with a distorted revelation only shows that she intended to downplay the seriousness of that attack to undermine Police investigation into the incident.
“One could recall, with grim distaste, that sometime about November 8th, 2024, after an attack and destruction of properties, including government health centre, in Inua Eyet Ikot 2, by some Esit Eket sponsored thugs, the same DSP Timfon John, had issued a press release describing the incident as the handiwork of unknown hoodlums.
“She also described Inua Eyet Ikot village as ‘Akoiyak community’ in Ibeno LGA.When her actions were questioned by the elders of Ibeno, who were led by the Chairman of Council, Hon. Glory Ekah Effiong, on a visit to the erstwhile Commissioner of Police, all that the Police did was to issue a verbal apology over such a serious matter.
“Yet, a few days after the said incident in November 2024, the Ekid People’s Union, in a brazen show of audacity, owned up to the attack on Inua Eyet Ikot 2, saying that it was only the beginning of several attacks to come.
“The EPU had said on social media that their foot soldiers would stop at nothing to reclaim Ibeno land, including the destruction of houses, even those built by the government in Inua Eyet Ikot village.
“It must be noted with concern that, despite all the threats by EPU, even against the express instructions by the governor, Pastor Umo Eno, to maintain peace in the area, the Police have remained silent, unperturbed, lackadaisical, and unworried over the resultant destructive actions carried out by agents of EPU as follow up to those threats. One can only imagine that the Police have become complicit in this matter.”
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