SOME youths from Oku Community in Boki Local Government Area of Cross River State, allegedly stormed the divisional police station in the area at about 11pm on Thursday to release a suspect that was arrested by the police. The suspect, it was learnt, was one of their members.
They also allegedly snatched a rifle from a policeman in the process. It was gathered that the arrest of the said suspect followed a lingering crisis in the Boki Oil Palm Estate where some aggrieved youths from one of the landlord communities of the estate refused to work with one Mr. Macthomy Agan, whom the state governor, Ben Ayade gave control of the estate.
It was learnt that following the crisis, a number of youths from Oku, one of the landlord communities, were rounded up and brought to the state police command in Calabar for causing mayhem in the area. Cross River State Commissioner of Police, Mr Hafiz Inuwa, said a team of officers from the intelligence unit of the command had been dispatched in search of a rifle that was snatched from one of his men. He said the perpetrators and those fomenting trouble in the area would be brought to book.
Agan, who is a Special Adviser on Infrastructure to Ayade, said he was given the mandate to manage the estate by the state governor. “Some youths and elders from Oku and other communities who usually owned more than five plots in the estate are now aggrieved because the new policy of `one man one plot’ does not favour them anymore.
“We are working hard to revive this estate and to generate more revenue for the state government.I have called all the youths and elders from the four landlord communities to support me in restoring peace in the estate but to no avail. “I thank God that the police and other security agencies are currently on the ground and doing their work in arresting all those causing violence here,’’ he said.