A’ Ibom Village Head, Others Arrested for Allegedly Killing Herdsmen’s Cows

Okon Bassey in  Uyo

Police  operatives in Akwa Ibom State have arrested the Village Head of Ikot Akpan  in  Oruk Anam Local Government Area of the state, Chief Friday Benson Udo Ekpo and others  for allegedly intercepting herdsmen  who use their farms for grazing thus destroying  crops.

The youths in the Ikot Akpan village had reportedly chased the herdsmen away from the community in an attempt to stop the cows from doing further damage to the farm crops.

The  Youth Leader of the community, Aniefiok Amos said yesterday that the herdsmen invaded the community on Tuesday with their cows destroying cassava, yams and other valuable farms crops before the youths pursued them out to Isama village another community in the area.

“On Tuesday we saw herds of cows that swoop on our farms in the Ikot Akpan village destroying our crops. All we did was to pursue them and they ran to neighbouring village where we left them .

“What happened to the cows in another village we don’t know. We have to protect our crops against devourers.

“We were surprised as police arrested our respected Village Head, Chief  Udo Ekpo for offence he never committed. We learnt that other persons have been arrested in the village.”

Another Youth Activist in the community, Aniekerente Abasi Akpakpan said the village head was wrongly arrested by the police and called for thorough investigation into the matter and urged the police to release the village Head unconditionally.

“We want the police to release our village Head first and continue with their investigation.”, he stressed .

The Police Public Relations Officer in Akwa Ibom state, SP Odiko Mcdon, confirmed the incident, disclosing that some persons have been arrested in connection with the matter.

“We have received such reports that some cows were slaughtered in the community.  Cow meats were found in some  homes in the village.

“Some persons have been arrested.  I don’t know whether the Village Head is one of them. We also received report that one person is missing. That is why police swung into action and arrested the people in our custody. 

He said the Commissioner of Police, Olatayo Durosinmi has ordered investigation into the matter as preliminary investigation into incident has commenced to ensure that Justice is done .

“We have commenced preliminary investigation into the incident to ascertain all the allegations,”the PPRO added.