Again, gunmen raze police station, kill six in Akwa Ibom

8 May 2021

Gunmen suspected to be members of Indigenous People of Biafra, working in collaboration with the Eastern Security Network on Saturday attacked a Divisional Police Headquarters in Odoro Ikpe in Ini Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State and killed six persons.

It was gathered that the police station was set ablaze and operational vehicles and other valuables destroyed in the attack which occurred in the early hours of that fateful day.

The Police Public Relations Officer, Odiko Macdon, who confirmed the attack said five police officers and a wife to a police officer were killed.

He said the police authority in the state is already in Ini LGA for an on-the-spot assessment of the attack.

“Yes, there was an attack at the Divisional Police Headquarters, Odoro Ikpe, in Ini Local Government Area. Six persons including five officers and a wife of an officer were killed. I am at the station as we speak,” he said.

Our correspondent reports the attacks is latest in the series of attacks against security personnel by suspected members of IPOB and ESN in the state.

It was gathered that no fewer than 11 security personnel have been killed and police vehicles and others infrastructures destroyed in the renewed onslaught against the security operatives in the state.

The Chairman, Ini LGA, Mr Isreal Idaisin, has roundly condemned the invasion adding that necessary steps have been taken to restore normalcy.

In an unsigned statement that is already trending on the internet, he said the armed bandits invaded the police station with sophisticated weapons.

“The gunmen who came in two buses and a Sienna, numbering more than 40, arrived Ini LGA with sophisticated weapons and broke into the police facility at precisely 2:45 am, killing five policemen on duty, burning vehicles while inflicting injuries on others.”

He alleged that the police officers who attempted to repel the gunmen were overrun.

He however commended the youths of the LG whom he said were proactive in raising the alarm which helped to reduce the number of casualties.