Many dead as gunmen kill soldier, police officers in A’Ibom

Etim Ekpimah

Unidentified gunmen attacked and killed a chief superintendent of police, Benedict Okoh Ajide, other police officers, and a soldier in the Essien Udim Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State early Tuesday.

Many other soldiers who were said to be on peace mission in the community, were injured during the shooting.

Sources told CitizenDiary that apart from the policemen and the soldiers that were killed, many civilians fell to alleged indiscriminate shooting by the soldiers.

One of the sources said that some civilians who were running for cover, ran on to the oncoming vehicles and got killed.

The source, who is an indigene of Essien Udim, said: “Some policemen and a soldier were killed when unknown gunmen invaded Essien Udim and burnt down the taskforce operational vehicle.

“Many civilians also died on the process. Some of them were hit by military bullets while the others were knocked down by speeding vehicles.

“Those who reported this violence, under reported it.”

He added that If the political elites in Essien Udim LGA and Akwa Ibom in general fail to quickly rise up in a bipartisan approach to decisively reverse the growing violent crimes and insecurity engulfing the area, they would regrettably, be slowly and systematically turning the local government into Nigeria’s new ISIS stronghold with fatal, lethal and devastating socio-economic and political consequences.

“Peace has departed Essien Udim. Now is the time to act. This is not a political issue. This is a matter of National Security,” he said.

The Police Public Relations Officer in the state, Odiko Macdon did not answer calls made into his telephone. He did not also respond to text message that was sent into his telephone.