Fourty persons have died in a communal clash between Ntan Obu-Ukpe in Odukpani Local Government Area of Cross River State and Ikpanya Community in Ibiono Ibom Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State.
Also, 40 persons, including women, mobile policemen and children have been reported missing as a result of the clash.
The Chairman of Odukpani Council, Stephen Asuquo, confirmed that they clashing communities recorded a number of casualties.
However, Hogan Bassey, spokesman of the Cross River State Command of the Nigeria Police, who also confirmed that casualties were recorded, said he could not give the exact number of the deceased.
“We cannot give the casualty figures for now because we just discovered another person found dead in the area,” Mr. Bassey said.
The Odukpani Council Chairman, Mr. Asuquo said that even properties are being brought down in the feud. “There is no house standing there, the entire village has been destroyed and burnt down,” he said.
Narrating the details of the clash, he said, “I can say it is as a result of the struggle by people from Ikpanya for the land that belongs to the Ntan Obu-Ukpe and Ikpanya is in Ibiono Local Government Council of Akwa Ibom State, while Ntan Obu is in Odukpani Local Government Area of Cross River State”.
“Something akin to this took place a year ago and the deputy governors of the two states met and agreed that everything should return to status quo ante that was the position before the conflict”.
Mr. Asuquo said that “A Supreme Court judgment has ruled that the land belongs to Odukpani and the people of Odukpani are Cross River indigenes and the people from Ikpanya have tried to lease out Ntan Obu land to cattle ‘rearers’ to rear their cattle there”.
He called on the cattle raisers to vacate the land in dispute, “so I am appealing to the cattle rearers, we don’t want cattle rearers being there, but you must recognise the overlords and not that of the neighbouring community,” he said.
Mr. Asuquo, however, said that the attack was not done by the cattle raisers; according to him, the indigenes of Ikpanya were the people who attacked the indigenes from Ntan Obu.
“We are yet to ascertain the number because the people they killed, they beheaded and then threw the corpses into the river, the village (Ntan Obu) head was killed and beheaded,” he said.
“We could recognise his body from the attire he wore the day before the attack. The name of the village head is Etinyin Mfon Asanye”.
“People managed to escape; some jumped through the swamp and jumped into the river. It happened in the wee hours of the morning of Wednesday last week,” Mr. Asuquo said.
He narrated that in the wee hours of Tuesday morning, indigenes from Ikpanya, the Akwa Ibom side, got to the disputed land, set loose all the boats in order to stop people from escaping and started attacking the people.
“There was complete destruction of the place, the only two building that are standing are two churches but the churches were looted, the musical instruments were all carted away”.
“Some of the displaced persons are in Asan Eniong and nearby villages,’’ he said,
Mr. Asuquo appealed to government to send security men to the area.
“We are appealing to government to send soldiers and mobile policemen to the area,” he said.
“We are appealing that they should use the church building and few of the buildings that were not completely destroyed for the displaced people, while we try to see what we can do to appease them,’’ he plead .
According to Mr. Asuquo, “The unit commander or the leader of the troop is on ground there and he is doing his best. But before then, after the first incident we had a few number of policemen who were there, out of the nine who were there, four are still missing up till now”.
He suspected that the missing police men have been killed and beheaded, “we are suspecting that some were dragged to the swamp, we saw some police uniform at the swamp with blood stains,’’ he said.
Mr, Asuquo called on the Federal Government to act on the June 24, 2005, Supreme Court of judgment, the ruling had demarcated the boundary between Cross River and Akwa Ibom States.
“This is to ensure that people from the other side keep to their side and if they are coming here they will come as tenants and they will be welcome and not as invaders,” he said.
Asakara Ekanem Umo, the Paramount ruler of Odukpani Local Government Area also confirmed the incident.
According to him, “The last incursion was so large in destruction. The fight had left the community completely destroyed.
“Children and women were not spared and in the process they killed four mobile police men who were stationed for security assistance to the people over there”.
Mr. Umo called for provision of relief materials to the affected victims, urging the government to take measures to prevent further occurrence of the mayhem.
Tuesday, May 29, 2012
Suspected Boko Haram Leader Arrested At Karkasara Quarters In Kano
By AbdulSalam Muhammad, Kano
KANO-The Joint Military Task Force, JTF, Tuesday morning, arrested a man suspected to be a top militant commander during an early morning raid at Karkasara quarters by Malam Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital in Kano Municipality.
JTF sources told Vanguard that the arrest was a product of “intelligence gathering and painstaking effort” by the security operatives, stressing that “there was no casualty during the operation that lasted for about an hour.
Vanguard learnt that Karkasara and other adjourning quarters had long been identified as dark spots by security agents in the state.
The security source however, refused disclosed the identity of the suspect. According to the source, “what I can only tell you is that the guy we pick up this morning is a top commander that has been on our wanted list.”
Confirming the arrest in a telephone chat with Vanguard, the JTF spokesman in Kano, Lt Ikediche Iweha stated that; “I can confirm to you that we carried out a very successful operation today and the suspect we are looking for was apprehended without resistance.
“But I can not divulge other details about the suspect at this point because we have commenced robust investigation to establish what we think we have at hand”, Iweha stated.
KANO-The Joint Military Task Force, JTF, Tuesday morning, arrested a man suspected to be a top militant commander during an early morning raid at Karkasara quarters by Malam Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital in Kano Municipality.
JTF sources told Vanguard that the arrest was a product of “intelligence gathering and painstaking effort” by the security operatives, stressing that “there was no casualty during the operation that lasted for about an hour.
Vanguard learnt that Karkasara and other adjourning quarters had long been identified as dark spots by security agents in the state.
The security source however, refused disclosed the identity of the suspect. According to the source, “what I can only tell you is that the guy we pick up this morning is a top commander that has been on our wanted list.”
Confirming the arrest in a telephone chat with Vanguard, the JTF spokesman in Kano, Lt Ikediche Iweha stated that; “I can confirm to you that we carried out a very successful operation today and the suspect we are looking for was apprehended without resistance.
“But I can not divulge other details about the suspect at this point because we have commenced robust investigation to establish what we think we have at hand”, Iweha stated.
A-B-O-M-I-N-A-T-I-O-N: Masquerade rapes undergraduate nursing mother
Tension mounts in Opi, Nsukka Local Government Area, Enugu State as
masquerades took turn in the series of rape stories synonymous with the
community. The alleged rape of a female student, Ngozika Ugwu,
presented mixed feelings and reactions to what may have bedevilled the
community in the recent past.
Rape stories in Opi, a community in the university town of Nsukka, have occupied major national dailies, hitting banner headlines, from the three quarters that make up the community, Idi, Ogbozalla and Ibeku.
In 2011, the story of the rape of women between 70 and 80 years spread like wild fire in the country, raising eyebrows on the motive for such inhuman and barbaric act by, especially, youths of the community. Some of them were fingered and allegedly arrested, interrogated by the police but could not be persecuted because of want of evidence.
Following this development, Ada Enugu Women Organisation led by
Mrs. Kate Ezeofor stormed the community for a church service at St.
Charles Catholic Church parish, Opi to cleanse the land and the old
women that were defiled.
Few months later, Opi women took to the streets in protest of yet another rape at Ogbozalla–Opi. The protest attracted the quick intervention of the Chairman, Nsukka Local Government Council, Mr. Tony Ugwu who invited all the stakeholders in the community to discuss the ugly development and proffer solutions. Though it was later discovered that the protest had political undertone, the council boss brokered peace to the satisfaction of all.
Barely few months of enjoying peace in the area, masquerades took turn in the series of rape stories in the community by defiling a 28-year-old undergraduate nursing mother. The victim told Crime Alert in tears that the trauma of the rape will forever live with her but stated that she had forgiven the rapists.
While narrating her ordeal, she appealed to local, state and federal governments to ensure that truth prevails in this country by fighting for the poor masses. Ngozi, who dropped out from her NCE programme at the Enugu State College of Education (Technical)due to lack of funds after her ordeal, called on concerned Nigerians to come to her aid to enable her go back to school.
She also hinted that the release of one of the suspects on the flimsy excuse that he was going to write his JAMB examination was not encouraging, attributing it to the fact that her family is poor and helpless.
Her story:
It happened on March 21, 2012. There were three masquerades that day but two were spotted and people started running. I was going to fetch water and as people were running, I equally ran and hid somewhere until the two masquerades passed. After the masquerades passed, I came out and continued with my journey. Soon, I heard a child saying that another masquerade was coming. I didn’t see the masquerade but people were running and I ran to enter into someone’s house.
The masquerade emerged from a corner (apiam way) and pushed me into the building where I was running to. I tried to escape but could not. It caught up with me and started beating me. What surprised me was that the masquerade said it has been looking for me for long and had now caught up with me. I sought to know what I did to deserve such treatment and at the same time pleading for forgiveness but it continued with its threat.
This time, it swore to take me to a bigger masquerade inside the forest, saying it has been long I had been insulting them. My cries for help and that I was a nursing a baby fell on deaf ears. As the masquerade was dragging me along, a man with wrapper came and pleaded with the masquerade to leave me but it refused, saying that I have insulted them for too long. It insisted on taking me to the bigger masquerade which will compel my clan to bring a cow as sacrifice.
All my pleadings with the man who came to my rescue failed. The masquerade dragged me to a bush path,threw me on the ground fell on me. It held me on the neck to prevent me from shouting and blocked both my eyes and nose. At this stage, I nearly lost consciousness until one man came and rescued me from its grip. He removed the face of the masquerade and that was how he was identified. As soon as he was identified, he ran away.
More people gathered there and helped to take me where I was given first aid treatment at a chemist before I was taken to St. Joseph Hospital, Opi. I didn’t know when I was taken to the hospital. When I started gaining consciousness, I did not see my pant and my bra was torn. It was then I realised that the masquerade raped me. Fear gripped me that the masquerade may have transmitted HIV/AIDS into me.
Doctor’s report altered
We went to Nsukka police station and reported the incident. I was surprised that police did not come to the scene of the incident to investigate my claims. What the police did was to take me to a police doctor, Mercy Clinic along University Market Road, Nsukka. It is surprising that a doctor will give evidence against me in a case of rape I reported. Later, police invited me to their office for interrogation.
When I tried to give details of what happened, they shouted that I
should shut up and go straight to speak on the doctor’s findings on the
case. Surprisingly, the Police asked me to write a letter of apology
claiming that the doctor’s report said I was not raped. I did not read
the report nor see it. I was forced to write an apology by the police.
While all these were happening, no police officer came to the hospital to take my statement. All the time, nurses would remove drips from my hand so that I would go to the police station to honour their invitation. The masquerade was allegedly arrested and hurriedly released on the flimsy excuse that he was going to write JAMB exams.
Pleas for forgiveness
While I was still recuperating, the mother of the suspected person in the masquerade came and pleaded that his son should be forgiven. I told his mother that I have forgiven him. What annoyed me most was that some of his relations which included a policeman that works in Enugu, returned home and instead of sympathizing with me, they took sides in favor of their brother. At a stage, I was forced to go to the police station to close the case.
No refund of expenditure
The police said that I should not be paid what my family spent in the case and that the family of the suspect should only pay for my hospital bill. The rapist family paid the hospital bill grudgingly. Later, the police invited us again and this time, they asked me to write that I was not raped and I was forced to write that I was not raped. The boy who raped me gave police his name as Asogwa Ifeanyi but people who knew him said, his real names are Ugwunshi Ifeanyi.
The police did not also make efforts to invite the witness in the case while the investigation was going on rather, after they concluded that I was not raped, they tried to invite him but he ignored them.
My Education
I dropped out from Enugu state college of education (Technical) due to lack of fund. I was a second year student when I dropped. I entered the tertiary institution in 2007/2008 session. For now, it is very difficult to continue with my education after all I have gone through. My father is a mason (Brick layer) at Uzo-Uwani L.G.A, Enugu State. We are five children born to my father and mother.
I am the only daughter.
Police reacts when Crime Alert visited Nsukka Police station, it was gathered that the incumbent Divisional police officer had not assumed office when the matter was incidented but a senior police officer who pleaded anonymity disclosed that a case of assault, occasioning harm was reported at the station but not rape as claimed by the lady stating that the people of the area are very troublesome. “Any small thing in the area, they will term it rape and rush to the press. You can trace the lady to Opi and find out from her, all that was reported is a case of assault occasioning harm.”
Police Doctor speaks
The police doctor, Dr. Ugwu who reportedly examined Ngozika told Crime Alert that he can’t remember such a matter any longer. “I meet different cases and patients on daily basis. Give me sometime to get across to the police to find out the very incident”.
Elders action
Investigations by Crime Alert revealed that the elders in the community, on hearing the rape story, took action by banning masquerades from operating in the area regretting that youths cashed on masquerade which are meant for entertainment to perpetuate all sorts of evil, painting the community in a bad public image. They also reportedly resolved that the family of the masquerade rapist must bring a cow to cleanse the land, or else they will be ostracized.
Rape stories in Opi, a community in the university town of Nsukka, have occupied major national dailies, hitting banner headlines, from the three quarters that make up the community, Idi, Ogbozalla and Ibeku.
In 2011, the story of the rape of women between 70 and 80 years spread like wild fire in the country, raising eyebrows on the motive for such inhuman and barbaric act by, especially, youths of the community. Some of them were fingered and allegedly arrested, interrogated by the police but could not be persecuted because of want of evidence.
The masquerade
Few months later, Opi women took to the streets in protest of yet another rape at Ogbozalla–Opi. The protest attracted the quick intervention of the Chairman, Nsukka Local Government Council, Mr. Tony Ugwu who invited all the stakeholders in the community to discuss the ugly development and proffer solutions. Though it was later discovered that the protest had political undertone, the council boss brokered peace to the satisfaction of all.
Barely few months of enjoying peace in the area, masquerades took turn in the series of rape stories in the community by defiling a 28-year-old undergraduate nursing mother. The victim told Crime Alert in tears that the trauma of the rape will forever live with her but stated that she had forgiven the rapists.
While narrating her ordeal, she appealed to local, state and federal governments to ensure that truth prevails in this country by fighting for the poor masses. Ngozi, who dropped out from her NCE programme at the Enugu State College of Education (Technical)due to lack of funds after her ordeal, called on concerned Nigerians to come to her aid to enable her go back to school.
She also hinted that the release of one of the suspects on the flimsy excuse that he was going to write his JAMB examination was not encouraging, attributing it to the fact that her family is poor and helpless.
Her story:
It happened on March 21, 2012. There were three masquerades that day but two were spotted and people started running. I was going to fetch water and as people were running, I equally ran and hid somewhere until the two masquerades passed. After the masquerades passed, I came out and continued with my journey. Soon, I heard a child saying that another masquerade was coming. I didn’t see the masquerade but people were running and I ran to enter into someone’s house.
The masquerade emerged from a corner (apiam way) and pushed me into the building where I was running to. I tried to escape but could not. It caught up with me and started beating me. What surprised me was that the masquerade said it has been looking for me for long and had now caught up with me. I sought to know what I did to deserve such treatment and at the same time pleading for forgiveness but it continued with its threat.
This time, it swore to take me to a bigger masquerade inside the forest, saying it has been long I had been insulting them. My cries for help and that I was a nursing a baby fell on deaf ears. As the masquerade was dragging me along, a man with wrapper came and pleaded with the masquerade to leave me but it refused, saying that I have insulted them for too long. It insisted on taking me to the bigger masquerade which will compel my clan to bring a cow as sacrifice.
All my pleadings with the man who came to my rescue failed. The masquerade dragged me to a bush path,threw me on the ground fell on me. It held me on the neck to prevent me from shouting and blocked both my eyes and nose. At this stage, I nearly lost consciousness until one man came and rescued me from its grip. He removed the face of the masquerade and that was how he was identified. As soon as he was identified, he ran away.
More people gathered there and helped to take me where I was given first aid treatment at a chemist before I was taken to St. Joseph Hospital, Opi. I didn’t know when I was taken to the hospital. When I started gaining consciousness, I did not see my pant and my bra was torn. It was then I realised that the masquerade raped me. Fear gripped me that the masquerade may have transmitted HIV/AIDS into me.
Doctor’s report altered
We went to Nsukka police station and reported the incident. I was surprised that police did not come to the scene of the incident to investigate my claims. What the police did was to take me to a police doctor, Mercy Clinic along University Market Road, Nsukka. It is surprising that a doctor will give evidence against me in a case of rape I reported. Later, police invited me to their office for interrogation.
The victim, Ngozie Ugwu
While all these were happening, no police officer came to the hospital to take my statement. All the time, nurses would remove drips from my hand so that I would go to the police station to honour their invitation. The masquerade was allegedly arrested and hurriedly released on the flimsy excuse that he was going to write JAMB exams.
Pleas for forgiveness
While I was still recuperating, the mother of the suspected person in the masquerade came and pleaded that his son should be forgiven. I told his mother that I have forgiven him. What annoyed me most was that some of his relations which included a policeman that works in Enugu, returned home and instead of sympathizing with me, they took sides in favor of their brother. At a stage, I was forced to go to the police station to close the case.
No refund of expenditure
The police said that I should not be paid what my family spent in the case and that the family of the suspect should only pay for my hospital bill. The rapist family paid the hospital bill grudgingly. Later, the police invited us again and this time, they asked me to write that I was not raped and I was forced to write that I was not raped. The boy who raped me gave police his name as Asogwa Ifeanyi but people who knew him said, his real names are Ugwunshi Ifeanyi.
The police did not also make efforts to invite the witness in the case while the investigation was going on rather, after they concluded that I was not raped, they tried to invite him but he ignored them.
My Education
I dropped out from Enugu state college of education (Technical) due to lack of fund. I was a second year student when I dropped. I entered the tertiary institution in 2007/2008 session. For now, it is very difficult to continue with my education after all I have gone through. My father is a mason (Brick layer) at Uzo-Uwani L.G.A, Enugu State. We are five children born to my father and mother.
I am the only daughter.
Police reacts when Crime Alert visited Nsukka Police station, it was gathered that the incumbent Divisional police officer had not assumed office when the matter was incidented but a senior police officer who pleaded anonymity disclosed that a case of assault, occasioning harm was reported at the station but not rape as claimed by the lady stating that the people of the area are very troublesome. “Any small thing in the area, they will term it rape and rush to the press. You can trace the lady to Opi and find out from her, all that was reported is a case of assault occasioning harm.”
Police Doctor speaks
The police doctor, Dr. Ugwu who reportedly examined Ngozika told Crime Alert that he can’t remember such a matter any longer. “I meet different cases and patients on daily basis. Give me sometime to get across to the police to find out the very incident”.
Elders action
Investigations by Crime Alert revealed that the elders in the community, on hearing the rape story, took action by banning masquerades from operating in the area regretting that youths cashed on masquerade which are meant for entertainment to perpetuate all sorts of evil, painting the community in a bad public image. They also reportedly resolved that the family of the masquerade rapist must bring a cow to cleanse the land, or else they will be ostracized.
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