Abagana/Ukpo Land Dispute: Anambra CP Threatens More Arrests
CONTROVERSY still trails the land dispute between two neighbouring communities of Abagana in Njikoka Local Government Area and Ukpo in Dunukofia Local Government Area, with the Anambra State Police Commissioner, Mr. Sam Okaula threatening to arrest more people found to be involved in what he described as arson, murder and other sundry offences.
One person was killed and the Divisional Police Officer, DPO, for Dunukofia and three other policemen sustained injuries during an attack on the police formation in the area.
About 23 suspects who were arrested after the attack had been charged to court, while the injured persons were receiving treatment in the hospital. Apparently irked by the petition to the Inspector General of Police, IGP, by Abagana people on the matter, CP Okaula, said in an interview yesterday that investigation into the matter was continuing, adding that the command would not hesitate to arrest more people if found to be involved in the attack.
He said: “Those who perpetrated that act are criminals. They burnt a whole police station and patrol vehicles and killed somebody. We will arrest more of them. I don’t know why people are defending such criminals. “On top of that, they are writing petitions. I do my work professionally and I will not compromise on that.”
It may be recalls that some people, under the aegis of Abagana Welfare Union, petitioned the Inspector General of Police, Mr. Ibrahim Idris, accusing the Anambra State Police command of bias over the incident and urged the IGP to sanction the CP, the Area Commander and the Divisional Police Officers for Njikoka and Dunukofia.
They appealed to the IGP to order the Anambra CP to immediately release all persons arrested in the wake of the latest clash between Abagana and Ukpo, adding that the youths of Abagana were becoming restive with each passing day over continued detention of their people. They also urged the IGP to direct the take-over of investigation into the most recent bout of violence on the Abagana-Ukpo border as they could no longer trust the Anambra police command to conduct an impartial investigation.
