By Patrick Obia
Akpabuyo Local Government Area of Cross River State, in recent weeks, has been engulfed with a silent crisis that has allegedly claimed an unaccounted number of lives.
This crisis ranges from witchcraft branding uproar, gang clashes, armed robberies, and royalty tussles among others.
In the prime hours of Sunday, May 21, 2023, at about 2:30 pm in Ikot Offiong Ambai, Chief Bassey Ekpenyong Asuquo, a Village Head of Ikot Eyo Edem was assassinated by a group of men believed to hail from the community.
While the incident created panic in the community and its environs and an investigation is ongoing, double tragedy struck.
According to family sources of the deceased, the police had held his corpse for weeks to carry out investigations, but unfortunately, the investigation produced no result.
Due to how he was murdered they decided to lay him to rest, on Saturday 17th June, 2023 after the police agreed to release his remains. Shortly he was committed to mother earth, suspected joint task force team comprising of the Police, DSS, and Army allegedly stormed his residence and shot sporadically and “directly into the compound” and in the process, Mrs. Ima-Obong Bassey Ekpenyong, the wife of the assassinated Village Head was caught by a bullet, said Roselyn-Eme Ephraim, a relative narrated to CrossRiverWatch.
Roselyn-Eme Ephraim narrates: “On the 21st of May 2023 at about 2:30 pm, my uncle was assassinated in a village called Ikot Eyo, my mother’s village. He was a Village Head and they were supposed to have buried him on that particular day he died but due to the circumstances surrounding his death and the fact that he was assassinated, the police asked us not to bury him. His corpse remained in the mortuary for about three weeks because of investigations.
“The truth is that the people that murdered him did not wear masks, everyone in the community knows them and where they can be found and nothing was done by the police. The killers went about threatening us again. Since then the whole village has become tense.
“Last week Saturday (Saturday 17th, June) the police released his corpse to us for burial. The females in the family were not allowed to go for the burial, it was just a few males due to the threats. It was just to bury him and later do his funeral. After he was buried at Ikot Eyo Edem, during the day some relatives and sympathizers were hosted in the compound. While they were having the little reception, suddenly about 4-5 Police, DSS, and Army vans including a Hilux pulled over. They came down, cocked the gun, and shot directly into the compound as if they got a tipoff something negative was happening. This happened at about 4pm.
“That made everyone scamper for safety, those who could run did while those who could not lay on the floor. Unfortunately, a bullet caught my uncle’s wife who had just buried her husband that day. Our question is: we are already bereaved and threatened and had lodged a complaint to these authorities and they were the same people that came and shot at us.
“Even if they got a negative tipoff, I know the Police and Army shoot in the air to scare people not directly. Let it be that they shot back at you then it will be known that they meant war but they came down and shot at people that were not fighting them. The security operatives are the ones shooting at us for no just reason. The four children who are between the age bracket of 13, 17, 19, and 21 years old are now orphans just like that? We want justice for these killings.”
The deceased families are seeking clarification and justice for the death of their brother and sister by allegedly “known men in the community” and the joint task force team. Adding that the couple’s four children are forced to be orphans.
Graphics image: see amateur video obtained and pictures obtained below, viewer discretion is advised.
Leave feedback about this