The people of Enwang community, headquarters of Mbo Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State have petitioned the Director-General of the Department of State Services (DSS), Mr. Yusuf Magaji Bichi, over the alleged gruesome killing of members of the community by attackers from a neighbouring community, Uko Nteghe Uda.
The petitioners alleged that the victims of the attack were beheaded and their heads taken away by the attackers.
They said the attackers completely destroyed 14 houses and set other houses ablaze, including the residence of former Inspector-General of Police, late Mr. Etim Inyang.
In the petition titled: ‘A Petition and Passionate Appeal for the Investigation of the Unprovoked Invasion and Attack of the People of Enwang Community, Headquarters of Mbo LGA of Akwa Ibom State by their Uko Nteghe Usa neighbours’, the people said four members of the Enwang were beheaded while the attackers made away with heads of the victims.
The petition signed by the National Coordinator of the Society for the Promotion of Human Rights and Justice, Mr. Udo Eke-Okon, said the invasion of the community was triggered by the rape of a 50-year-old woman in the community.
“The prelude to the organised invasion of Enwang community happened in the morning of January 6, 2021, when an Uko Nteghe Uda carpenter, Mr. Eteka Edet John, accosted a 50-year-old, Mrs. Arit Asuquo of Eyo Atabia Ufiok in Uko
Akpan Enwang, who went to fetch firewood and mercilessly raped her, after thoroughly beating her to submission.
“This matter was officially reported at the Divisional Police Headquarters in Enwang. However, the police did not prosecute the case further, as they alleged that ‘the big men’ of Uko Nteghe Uda have intervened and ‘killed the matter’,” they stated.
The community said militants from the neighbouring community launched the first attack on farmers, who were cultivating their farmland.
According to the people, “As this is the time of the year when our people normally prepare their farmlands for cultivation, on January 19, 2021, a section of the Enwang community, notably Eyo Evai, Eyo Ukut, Eyo Udombo and part of Uko Akpan villages who have over the years exclusively farmed Uko Ateni, went to the said farmland to clear and prepare it for cultivation.
“For the avoidance of doubt, part of this farmland has been a cause for legal disputes for many years between Uko Akai Uko Akpan in Enwang and Uko Akai Uko Nteghe in Uda.
“It needs be emphasised here that villagers of the Enwang community, who went for the clearing of Uko Ateni did so on the strength of the Oron High Court judgement in suit No: HOR/1/2013 delivered by Hon Justice Theresa E Obot on February 19, 2020, which ruled that the communities should restrict themselves to their ancestral boundaries.”
The petitioners noted that the judgement was never appealed by the people of Uko Nteghe Uda.
The judgement declared in part: “That the Uko Akai Uko Akpan people and Uko Akai Uko Nteghe people shall continue to share and cultivate their communal land as they have been doing since time immemorial.”
The Enwang natives said: “The unexpected and bloody attack did not stop in the farmland, as many heavily armed Uko Nteghe militants and their mercenaries also invaded Enwang, damaged and burned several buildings on the same day.”
The petition added that the militants launched another attack on the community while at a meeting with officials of Akwa Ibom State Government, who had intervened in the matter.
“We hereby most respectfully appeal to the DG of the DSS to use his good office to direct a thorough investigation into the matter with the aim of bringing the perpetrators and their sponsors to justice. This is the only way to bring about closure of this sad event and the ugly scars it has left in the psyche and memory of Enwang people,” it stated.