How I Escaped Assassination Ikot Edor Youth Leader

For Mr. Emmanuel Oboh, the embattled Youth Leader of Ikot Edor village in Onna Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State, the sad memory of the maltreatment meted on him by suspected hired assassins is far from fading as the wounds he sustained from machet cuts that fateful evening from his abductors have refused to yield totally.

Before the dissolution of the village youth council sometime last year by His Eminence, Usonyin Akpabio Udo Ukpa, Mr. Emmanuel Oboh was the youth leader and is reported to have been the one who led youths of the community to revamp some ailing projects in the community from grants and other charges accrued to youths of the area, an act, Mr. Oboh told Global Concord, has not gone down well with few elites in the community who, according to him, “always direct our money to their private pockets”. Mr. Oboh's tenure, according to him, was viewed by leaders of the community as insulting as they could no longer have access to funds taxed contractors in the village by the youths and other levies.

In view of the support given to Mr. Emmanuel Oboh by youths of the community, the dissolution of the youth council faced major setback as Global Concord gathered that youths of the community still take directives from Mr. Emmanuel Oboh. The youths who spoke with Global Concord at Ikot Edor said they had to reject the resolution because the tenure of the dissolved youth exco has not terminated.

They accused some traditional leaders in the community of what they termed “undue infringement on the affairs of the youth council and wrote several letters to security operatives and prominent indigenes of the area including Senator and Minister Ufot Ekaette who hail from Ikot Edor, calling for “democratization of the youth council” to allow the youths elect their leaders through election and complete their tenures. This letter, made available to Global Concord is said to have caused further diplomatic row between youths of the community and their Elders.

The embattled youth leader while narrating his ordeal with some abductors allegedly sponsored by certain gladiators in the community in connection to the face off said but for the intervention of market women and passersby, he would have been lynched by group of suspected “kidnappers or assassins” who came and skillfully took him to a junction in the village where some men were waiting for him.

While showing matchet cuts on him for refusing to enter Benze 190 boot, the youth leader said the matter has been reported to the police but regretted that key suspects in the incidents have refused to heed police invitation for interrogation.

He called on the police, civil society groups and relevant authorities to wade into the matter to forestall further occurrence. When contacted on phone, the royal father accused in the incident said the allegations of fraud against him and others were false, baseless and an attempt to bring him to disrepute. He denied knowledge of the incident, adding that he was far above such trivial issues.