Two Police Officers, Four Others Killed in A’ Ibom, Benue, Enugu

Christopher Isiguzo and Gideon Arinze in Enugu, Okon Bassey in Uyo and George Okoh in Makurdi

Gunmen yesterday continued their nationwide rampage as they killed two police officers in Akwa Ibom State and four other people in Benue and Enugu states.

The patrol van of the slain policemen was also set ablaze by the unidentified gunmen.

The incident happened yesterday while the Policemen were on official engagement at a checkpoint in Urua Inyang, the headquarters of Ika Local Government Area of the state.

A source and an indigene of the area said the armed hoodlums on several motorcycles, stormed the checkpoint and shot the two officers dead, while others fled.

In the ensuing confusion, the bandits seized the rifles of the slain officers and also set their patrol van ablaze.

The Akwa Ibom State Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Mr. Odiko Macdon, a Police Superintendent (SP), confirmed the incident, saying he was in the company of the Commissioner of Police (CP), Mr. Amiengheme Andrew, for an on-the-spot assessment .

“We are in Ika, trying to gather more facts about the incident,” he said.

According to the PPRO, the Commissioner of Police and the entire Police community in the state were very saddened by the development, given the fact that some officers of the Command had earlier this month been killed by the hoodlums and others declared missing.

The latest killing brought to five the number of Policemen murdered in the line of duty in Akwa Ibom State by unknown gunmen, while four others were declared missing in the recent times.

In a separate incident in Enugu, at least two yet-to-be identified young men have lost their lives following a clash between two rival cult groups along Ogui Road in Enugu metropolis, Enugu State.

The police in the state confirmed the unfortunate development yesterday.

The Police Public Relations Officer of the Enugu State Police Command, ASP Daniel Ndukwe confirmed the incident.

According to him, the feuding rival cultists shot sporadically along the stretch of the ever busy Ogui Road.

He said police operatives evacuated the corpses of the two suspected cultists and deposited them at a morgue for autopsy.

“Residents returned to their normal activities in the area shortly after the incident,” Ndukwe said, adding that the Commissioner of Police in the state, Mohammed Aliyu, had since ordered an investigation into the incident.

In a related development, suspected herdsmen yesterday killed a man and his wife at Udei branch in Mbabai Council Ward of Guma Local Government Area (LGA) of Benue State.

The man, Igba Faga and his wife were hacked to death while returning from the farm.

This came barely 24 hours after the herdsmen killed seven people at the Abagena displaced people’s camp on Tuesday.

Confirming the attack to journalists, Special Adviser on Security to Benue State Governor, Mr. Paul Hembah, said the herdsmen had laid ambush on the man and hacked him to death on his way home.

He further explained that the couple who were on their motorcycle, enroute for home died on the spot while their remains had been evacuated by their family members for burial.

Describing the attack as one attack too many, Hembah lamented that the incident took place less than 24 hours after herdsmen attacked the Internally Displaced Persons camp on Tuesday, where seven persons were killed.

When contacted, the Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Sewuese Anene said the police were still investigating the crime.