The Chairman, Council of Chiefs of Unyenge community, Chief Ovong Xavier Ekpe, who said this in Uyo, condemned the unfortunate incident, saying such has never happened in the history of the community’s relationship with UERL which has been operating in the area for more than a decade.
Consequently, the community distanced itself from the attack and called for an investigation into the incident to unravel the perpetrators and bring them to book.
It could be recalled that armed men suspected to be militants in the early hours of Thursday, January 20, 2022, planted dynamites along the road leading to the UERL, and when it exploded and failed to hit its target, they opened fire on the workers, killing the driver, and injuring two security officers.
In a written statement read by the Secretary, Unyenge Development Union, Edet Edietteh, the monarch sympathised with the families of the deceased, saying such an act could only have come from enemies of the land, to paint the community in a bad light.
He said: “The recent attack on the staff of the Universal Energy Resource Limited, the chiefs, the elders and the youths of Unyenge community regret the unforeseen incident that took place on the 20th of January, this month, where two members of the police and staff of the Universal Energy Resource Limited were attacked by the hoodlums.
“The community frowns at the inhuman and unpatriotic act and do sympathise with the families of the victims of the attacks, the UERL family and the government of Akwa Ibom state.
“The community sees such acts as unacceptable, unpatriotic, devoid of the character of Unyenge people. Such a dastardly act must have been caused by enemies of the Unyenge people and that of the Oron nation at large, with the intent to paint the people in a bad light.”
Speaking at the scene of the incident, a community leader and President Akwa Ibom state community in Rivers state, Bassey Empima said, “we are not known for this kind of act, we don’t think there is anybody in the community that can be part of this heinous crime because since this community has been in existence and the UERL has been working here for a long time, more than a decade, we have never witnessed this kind of development before”.
He called on the state government to beef up security in the area to prevent further reoccurrence of the incident.
The President of Unyenge Development Union, Mr Effiong Ekpo, while lamenting frequent attacks on the fishermen by suspected militants also called on the Federal Government to station a Naval gunboat near the Creeks leading the Unyenge community to forestall such attacks.
