The Akwa Ibom
police command has cautioned the media against speculative reporting of
the death of a former police boss believed to have been killed for
political reasons.
A retired Assistant
Commissioner of Police, Anthony Udom, said to be an ACN chieftain, was
shot and killed on Wednesday along Udoumana road, Uyo by unknown gunmen.
But the Police
spokesperson in the state, Onyeka Orji, who said the police were
already out to track down the killers of Udom, said he was not aware of
the political affiliation of the deceased.
He stated that the
more important job for the police was to get the assailants and advised
the media not to heighten the political tension in the state with
speculative reporting.
“We didn’t go to
find out whether he was a party member or not. We are trying to trap
down the assailants. We are supposed to find the killers and punish
them first before finding out whether he was ACN member or not,” Mr
Orji said.
When the acting
chairman of Action Congress of Nigeria in the state, Amadu Attai, was
contacted, he denied being aware that the late Mr Udom was an ACN
member.
“I will have to check the party registers to confirm if such a name ever existed in the list,” he said.
Thomas Akpan,
Publicity Director of Akpanudoedehe Campaign Organisation, ‘Positive
Change’ also said Mr Udom was not a member of the ACN.
Speculations, following the killing of Mr Udom, was that he was an ACN member killed as a result of the crisis within the party.
According to an eye
witness, the gunmen were said to have trailed Udom to the traffic light
along Udoumana road, by Obio Imo street, where he had to stop when the
traffic light turned red. Suddenly, two men on a motorcycle rushed at
him, initially shooting at him from the passenger side.
As he tried to
escape through the driver’s side, the gunmen moved closer and shot at
him many times. Having confirmed he was dead, they allegedly broke the
back screen and took away a black polythene bag, which seemed to
contain huge sum of money, the witness said.
