by crossriverwatch admin
The Police in Ikom say there are in custody of three unnamed persons who were arrested over an hour ago in Ikom after they attacked the convoy that was conveying materials for the PDP Ward Congresses from Calabar to Obudu in the northern part of the state.
Supporters of the two factions of the ruling party accompanied the materials on the six hour journey but our source who is in the convoy said: “As we got to Edor in Ikom LGA, we were attacked by armed men in a Prado jeep. I suspect that their mission was to hijack the congress materials. We were physically assaulted and manhandled. Vena Ikem was seriously assaulted and knocked on the ground by the machete wielding hoodlums. We were dispossessed of money and valuables, some of which the police later recovered for us. The anti robbery squad was immediately alerted and they responded swiftly and chased after the hoodlums and caught up with them, arrested three of them and the Prado jeep there were driving and handed them over to the police in Ikom.”
A police officer in Ikom later told our source that: “See what politics is beginning to cause again, and to think that that jeep now belongs to a serving lawmaker is clear that nothing will come out of this case. Well it is you people that know; we cannot talk. If you journalists do your work well, maybe the public will shout more.”
The Ikom Divisional Police Officer, Mr. Ugim confirmed to CrossRiverWatch that three persons have been arrested and one locally made gun and four machetes were recovered from them. The DPO also said 2,250,000 Naira, out of the 3million that was allegedly seized, was recovered from the hoodlums and returned to those who were dispossessed of the cash during the attack.
A police orderly, Corporal Ubi Ibor who was accompanying the Director of Campaign, Jedy Agba Campaign Organization, Mr. Venatius Ikem who was also part of those accompanying the materials, was also macheted and his service pistol seized from him in the attack. He is still recovering in an undisclosed hospital in Ikom.
The DPO has said that the suspects will remain in detention until after the congress. He also informed that he has reinforced the convoy with more policemen to ensure that the materials and the people accompanying them get to Obudu safely.
When CrossRiverWatch contacted Mr. Venatius Ikem on the development, he confirmed that the DPO had reinforced security for the materials and they had already been released from protective custody by the police and were already on their way to Obudu.
He confirmed that their convoy was attacked by hoodlums and his orderly was wounded. When asked how it happened, he said one of the hoodlums knocked him down flat and pointed a gun at him but “the boy’s pistol could not cock. He kept struggling with it. I don’t know if he would have shot but that’s what happened then my orderly pulled a gun.”