The distraught family of Ubokobong Ime Udoworen, a youth leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Ikot Ekpene Senatorial District (Akwa Ibom North-West), who doubles as one of the special assistants (SAs) to the Senate President, Chief Godswill Akpabio, has petitioned the inspector-general of police (IGP), Kayode Egbetokun, over the whereabouts of their son.
They demanded the release of their son, dead or alive. Udoworen has not been seen since he was attacked by hoodlums allegedly sponsored by some of the party leaders, who accused him of diverting Christmas and New Year gifts meant for the youth wing of the party in the zone.
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The Senate President’s aide, who hails from Nto Okon village in the Ukanafun local government area, came under spontaneous mob action soon after the disbursement of the largesse, including millions of bags of rice and cash for onward distribution across the 10 LGAs in the senatorial district.
The APC publicity secretary, Barr. OtoAbasi Udo, who confirmed the incident, said he was “mercilessly beaten” but could not ascertain the whereabouts of him or his remains in the last nine days after the sad incident.
According to the parents, he was brutally attacked, his lifeless body dragged into the car, and taken to unknown destination since January 19, 2024. “I demand to see my son dead or alive so I can bury him,” his father, Obong Ime Udooworen, a retired police chief and former chairman of Ukanafun LGA, lamented.
Addressing a press conference on behalf of the family, Akanimo Udom said every effort to get redress on the matter has been futile, forcing the parents to petition the IGP through the state Police Command headquarters led by the outgoing Commissioner of Police (CP), Olatoye Durosinmi, who has recently been elevated to Assistant Inspector General of Police (AIG), Zone 6, Calabar, Cross River State.
He said, “From the information available to us, the attack was targeted at stopping him (Ubokobong) from publicly reporting the matter to the Senate President, Senator Godswill Akpabio, at the APC gathering in Ikot Ekpene.
“By successfully carrying the devilish act, the misguided youths had succeeded in stopping the Senate President from having a feedback on how goodies meant for the people of the Senatorial District were distributed.
“Ubokobong Ime Udoworen, is a hater of injustice and corruption. He dislikes unfairness and inequity with passion. On that fateful day, he had protested through his Facebook page that ‘the items and money meant for the Youths’ Directorate of Ikot Ekpene Senatorial District were diverted to the cartel, men who also called themselves the political leaders of their various LGAs’.”
“He specifically mentioned Mr Emmanuel Amama, the Special Assistant to the Senate President on Youths Matters, and that he made the diversion of the ‘gift items and money meant for the youth Directorate to his cartel men who have been the problem of APC in Akwa Ibom State’.”
“It was not a coincidence of any kind that the said Emmanuel Amama, and other leaders of the APC, were at the very spot that Ubokobong was attacked.
It is worrisome that a youth leader of a political party that controls the Federal Government of Nigeria was attacked in public, yet the leadership of the party from the national to the ward level has never bothered to make a comment.”