Gov Godswill Akpabio of Akwa Ibom has paid N5 million about ($30,000) each to the families of two youths who were killed in cold blood by the police in Eket on July 18.
Gov Godswill Akpabio of Akwa Ibom has paid N5 million about ($30,000) each to the families of two youths who were killed in cold blood by the police in Eket on July 18.
The victims were Emmanuel Akpan Unamso and Ita Livinus Ekpo, both of Okon community in Eket Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom, and the compensation cheques were presented to the families by the Police Commissioner, Solomon Arase.
Following police killing of the innocent vigilante youths in Eket, youths of the area challenged police firepower as they stoned Mr. Felix Uyanna, the former Akwa Ibom Police Commissioner, who visited the area only to find himself face to face with the anger of a mob.
The youths, who numbered over 3,000, overwhelmed Mr. Uyanna’s convoy, and several gunshots fired by his men into the air failed to dissuade them. They responded to the gunshots with stones, sticks and missiles.
CP Felix Uyanna was later removed by Police high command for failing to address the spate of insecurity in the state.
Presenting the cheques to the families of the deceased, Arase urged the families to accept entire incident.
“As one of the major challenges which I inherited from my predecessor, it is a common knowledge that this crisis and the failure to take decisive actions towards resolving it has created grounds for restiveness, and increased acts of criminality in and around Okon community.
“It has also systematically destroyed the hitherto strong synergy between the community and the local police, thereby exposing the community to opportunistic criminals. My concerted determination to put this crisis to rest was accordingly, driven by the genuine need to re-establish police-community partnership as a way of enhancing public securing in Okon-Eket,” he said.
But while he pledged that under his command the police would continue to ensure security of lives and property in the state, he was silent on the disciplinary measures, if any, which have been taken against the policemen who perpetrated the killing of the innocent youths.
It would be recalled that in the bid to save face following the killings by his own men, Eket DPO, Mr Dike Uchechi, who was merely redeployed to a nearby Esit Eket division, cooked up the story that his men returned fire when they were attacked, although the slain men, it was gathered, were not even armed.
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By a curious coincidence, Mr. Arase is yet to speak to SaharaReporters about last Saturday’s police checkpoint death of Divine Asubob, a 32-year old oil technician, in Esit Eket local government.
Witnesses said Mr. Asubob was killed when his motorbike was apparently brought to a halt at an illegal checkpoint where the police where extorting N20 of passersby, and a truck ran him over from behind. The police fled the checkpoint and left Mr. Asubob to die.
In addition, Mr. Arase’s presentation of Governor Akpabio’s N5 million to the families of those killed by men of the force last July raises the philosophical question of the value of a life, specifically, how much a Nigerian life.
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“The answer may be N20 to policemen, or N5million a governor,” our analyst said. “Let us wait to see what the police is going to pay to the families, and how much punishment the policemen responsible for these needless deaths will receive.”
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