Ini Billie, Uyo
Hoodlums suspected to be cultists attacked Inen Community in the Oruk Anam Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State and killed three persons.
The victims were reportedly killed on Tuesday morning in their homes when some hoodlums stormed the community in a motorbike convoy and robbed them.
Eyewitness Johnson Akpakpan told journalists that the owner of the first house that was attacked, Mrs Choice Etuk, was a victim of last year’s cult clash who almost died from machete cuts but for the intervention of Dr Martha Udom Emmanuel, wife of the state governor.
According to Akpakpan, the hoodlums accosted Mrs Choice Etuk’s step-son, killed him and escaped with his brand-new motorbike.
He said: “From there, the hoodlums suspected to be cultists from neighbouring communities proceeded to the compound of one Elder Sunday Jumbo and killed the second person before they killed the third victim and bolted away with a POS machine.”
Another eyewitness who chose to remain unnamed attributed the killings to cult-related activities, saying the hoodlums came from neighbouring local government for the operations.
“I cannot establish whether the group is Debalm or Iceland confraternities. But we are suspecting that they are not robbers. If they were robbers, they would have collected the motorcycle, money and POS machine without killing the victims.
“We are shocked that this incident has returned to our community after the whole village was deserted last year because of cult-related killings.
“We don’t know what to do again; we are living in fear now. Nobody knows what will happen next,” the source lamented.
Meanwhile, it was gathered that the Chairman of Oruk Anam LGA, Mr Kingsley Frank has mobilized a joint security team to restore peace in the area.
Investigations revealed that the council boss has given an ultimatum to all the cultists in the community to fish out the perpetrators of the crime as the security agencies are investigating the killings.
The Police Public Relations Officer in the state, SP Odiko Mcdon confirmed the attack but said there were conflicting reports about the number of victims.
He said: “There is a conflicting report concerning the number of victims involved. But as a command, we have commenced an investigation to avert more killings.
“We are out to establish the cause of the incident. We are determined to ensure that the culprits are brought to book.”