Kidnapping In Akwa Ibom State: Traditional Ruler Condemns The Use Of V/Heads As Scapegoats

Though the Akwa Ibom State Internal Security Law 2009 says, among other things, that a village head who refuses to volunteer information to the government on the activities of kidnappers in his domain would be made to suffer the same fate with the kidnappers, the suspended village head or Oboetim Ikot Ekong, Eteidung Asuquo Sunday Udokoro Utuen, in an interaction with Global Concord in his palace penultimate weekend condemned in its entirety the use of village heads as scapegoats in crimes they know nothing about.

Eteidung Ntuen who is one of the three suspended village heads in the state has expressed dismay over his suspension as the village Head of Oboetim Ikot Ekong for six months, and described as unjust the act of using him as one of the scapegoats over an offence he as a law-abiding citizen has not committed. His words: “for the government to use the Akwa Ibom State Internal Security Enforcement Law 2009 to punish the innocent village heads in this matter is very unwholesome. I am well known by all as a disciplinarian who tackles crime of any form effectively in my capacity as the village head both within my village and the neighbourhood”.
It could be recalled that the State Government on the 3rd February, 2010 announced the suspension of three village heads for refusing to volunteer information on the activities of kidnappers in their respective domains. This pronouncement was done three days after the abduction of a retired general, General Edet Akpan at Qua Iboe Church, Iwok in Nsit Atai Local Government Area. This made the people to wonder why such pronouncement was not made before the afore-mentioned kidnap incident, which claimed two lives and injured many.

Social analysts, while fielding questions from our reporter suggested that the government was actually transferring aggression on innocent village heads who may not have gotten any knowledge of any kidnapping or other criminal activities in their domains. Another school of thought suggested that the government was trying to apportion blames on innocent village heads.

It could be recalled that Eteidung Asuquo Sunday U. Ntuen had on January 31, 2009 organized a seminar for the youths and Elders as his own quota to the on-going fight against kidnapping and related crimes. The said seminar was reported in the Community Pulse Newspaper of 2nd February, 2009, which the village head was reported to have appealed to the youths of Nsit Ibom Local government area to be vigilant and to try as much as possible to spot out kidnappers in their respective villages. The village head, according to the paper had also enjoined other royal fathers to see the fight against kidnapping as a task that must be done by all.

However, Eteidung Ntuen has pleaded with the government that he has no knowledge of kidnapping activities in his village (Oboetim Ikot Ekong), hence, the need to reverse the pronouncement.

His words: “the state Internal Security Enforcement Law 2009 is a good one, but its irony of punishing innocent village heads instead of the criminals is questionable and unjust. No village head leaves in his subjects' houses, hence, they would not know what's going on there. Therefore, I wish to say that I am neither an active partner nor dormant partner in any crime that could warrant such a magnitude of disgrace. I am appealing to the government to revisit this suspension order and reinstate me accordingly”.