Akwa Ibom Under Siege As Gunmen Shoot Governorship Aspirant

San Francisco, May 16, (THEWILL) – Mr. Ini Ekong Udonwa, a Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship aspirant in the forthcoming 2011 election in Akwa Ibom State, was this weekend shot in the leg, by yet to be identified gunmen at his residence in Uyo, the state capital.

Udonwa, a Singapore-based ship builder who returned to the state early this year to begin preparations for the election was attacked at about 8.30pm by the gunmen who later took his aged mother with them.

THEWILL gathered that six gunmen stormed his residence at No. 10 Udoette Street, off Ikpa Road in the state capital in a Mercedes Benz 190 sedan just as Udonwa returned from a political campaign event in the city and started shooting with the intention of scaring people away when one of them took a shot at Udonwa injuring him in the leg.

Realizing that Udonwa had been injured in the leg the gang decided against taking him hostage because of the wound and opted to take his mother in his place.

Eyewitnesses said the Joint Military Task Force, Operation Aduma arrived at the scene after the gunmen had abducted his mother and left the scene. 


Mr. Walter Rugbere, the state police commissioner would not comment on the matter but admitted that a woman had been kidnapped by gunmen in the city adding that the police would get to the bottom of the crime.

Meanwhile that state government in a statement by the Deputy Governor, Mr. Patrick Ekpotu, said: "In the last 48 hours, Akwa Ibom State has been under siege by kidnappers and criminal elements who have unleashed attacks on innocent citizens and especially, expatriates working on state government development projects.

"The government condemns in its entirety such acts of barbarism and in particular, the recent kidnapping of the septuagenarian mother of Engineer Ini Ekong Udonwa – a politician in the state - who, we learnt was also shot during the incident."

Mr. Ekpotu thanked the police an the JTF, Operation Aduma for its quick response to a similar kidnap incident in which a police ASP and two kidnappers were killed during an incident where four expatriate workers of Lebanese origin were abducted over the weekend.

While thanking security agencies for apprehending two suspects linked to the crime he said, "As the manhunt for others continues, government hereby directs all security agencies to leave no stone unturned in unravelling the perpetrators of these dastardly acts. 


"We condole with the families of officers and men who have lost their lives fighting the criminals that attacked residents and expatriates in the state. We also sympathize with members of the public whose parents, brothers, sisters or children have been victims of these nefarious acts," the statement added.