ETIM EFFIONG
Some Akwa Ibom people have praised Governor Udom Emmanuel for allegedly ordering the bombing of Essien Udim Local Government Area in the state.
The governor was said to have authorised the Nigeria Army to carry out a military operation on Tuesday, April 7, 2021, in Ntak Ikot Akpan/Ikot Afanga, Essien Udim Local Government Area after some suspected members of Indigenous Peoples of Biafra terrorised the area, killed some security operatives and set their vehicles ablaze.
The army spokesperson, Mohammed Yerima, a Brigadier General, in a statement on Wednesday, April 8, said “The operation was successfully executed and resulted in the dislodgment of the criminals while fleeing hoodlums were neutralised by the Air Component.”
But on Thursday, April 22, when analysts were speaking on the matter on Planet 101.1 FM, Uyo, under the station’s programme tagged ‘Peoples Parliament’, many people phoned in to support the supposed action of the governor.
One of the analysts, Idy Umanah, a Peoples Democratic Party member, commended Governor Emmanuel, for permitting the military to bomb the area to rid Essien Udim of suspected criminals and hoodlums.
Mr Umanah, a chieftain of the PDP urged other governors in the country to emulate Emmanuel’s alleged action as a way of checking the rising number of criminals and bandits in the country.
A radio caller, Mr Ndifreke Eniang, equally praised to the governor, noting that the deployment of soldiers has helped to rid the area of hoodlums.
Meanwhile, Comrade Ini Ememobong, Akwa Ibom Commissioner for Information and Strategy said the governor has no power to order the bombing of the area because he is neither a soldier nor a Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces.
He said the assertions by the radio analysts that the governor ordered bombardment were not true.
FirstNews learnt that Emmanuel had prior to the military operation held a security meeting with some Essien Udim political elders and other security chiefs.
“At the meeting, the elders exempted some villages and reduced the number to face aerial onslaught to 12,” a source said.
Four soldiers were said to have been killed and some missing following the attack by suspected IPOB members according to the state police spokesperson, SP Odiko MacDon.
Also, during the operation by the military, several people were allegedly killed in an aerial bombardment by troops.
A statement by the Chairman of Essien Udim, Anthony Luke, nine communities were “seriously” affected while three were “partially’’ affected by the security crisis in the local government area.
He added that property worth millions of naira were destroyed in the area while the actual number of persons killed in the bombardment was not ascertained.
It was gathered that more than 5,000 persons from the affected villages are living as refugees in three designated centres in the area while the bombed villages are deserted.