By Paulinus Nta, A’IBOM |
Renewed cult activities have brought grief to families and residents of Eniong Offot and Anua villages and their surroundings in Uyo Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State.
The latest incident is the brutal killing of Peter Ekpeowo, an indigene of Anua in Uyo, on Saturday night by suspected cultists.
The attackers subsequently took Ekpeowo’s lifeless body and dumped it at the entrance of his father’s compound, located at 15 Mbak Road in Anua, on Monday.
The deceased, with a sliced head and mutilated body, lay in his father’s compound, drawing a large crowd to the scene.
Though the suspected killers were not caught, eyewitnesses reported that a car drove up to the street, threw the corpse into the compound, and sped off to an unknown destination.
As onlookers swarmed the area to behold the gruesome sight, a police patrol team arrived, causing the crowd to disperse for fear of arrest.
A source told National Telescope that “a supposed ally of the victim called him on the telephone after he had taken his bath, inviting him to a drinking joint at 113 Udo Ekpo Mkpo Street by Mbom Street in Anua.”
“As the victim was drinking with his friends, the suspected cultists strolled in, butchered him, and took away the corpse.
As they left with the body, they fired shots into the air. On Monday morning, they returned the corpse to his father’s compound and dumped it there.”
An undisclosed family source mentioned that the deceased, who was expecting his first child, had wedded at Mt. Zion Gospel Church, Anua, a few months ago.
“The mother wept uncontrollably. The wedded wife could not be consoled. Even the father and siblings were deeply grieved at the mindless killing of their own.”
When our correspondent visited the deceased’s compound at 15 Mbak Road, Anua, a tenant informed him that the deceased’s father, a senior staffer at St. Luke’s Hospital, Anua, and the elder brother, Imo, a principal at Idorenyin Legacy Schools, Anua, were not home.
Later, some suspected cultists who invaded parts of Eniong Offot and Anua on Sunday night targeted members of rival groups, causing residents to desert the streets and shop owners to close their businesses for fear of reprisal attacks.
An anonymous source confided in this newspaper that the two deadly groups clashed over supremacy.
By 8 p.m. on Sunday night, traders near the Water Fountain on Nwaniba Road had deserted the area.
When contacted on Monday, Akwa Ibom Police Public Relations Officer, ASP Timfon John, confirmed that it was a clash between two cult groups.
Although John did not name the groups involved, she assured the public that the Akwa Ibom Police Command is on top of the matter.
“We are doing everything possible to ensure the arrest of the suspects,” she
