The House of Representatives has urged the Inspector General of Police, IGP Usman Alkali Baba, to deploy troops and beef up security to put an end to criminal activities in Abi/Yakurr constituency in order to forestall further loss of lives and properties.
The House mandated the Committee on Police Affairs to ensure compliance.
These followed a motion on “The Need to Address the Incidence of Kidnappings and Other Security Challenges Around the Waterways of Yakurr Local Government Area of Cross River State by Hon. Alex Egbona on Tuesday, November 23, 2021.
The House noted the increased criminal activities by syndicates who specialise in kidnapping and other forms of militancy around the waterways in Yakurr Local Government Area of Cross River State;
It also noted that the criminals have forced law-abiding residents of those coastal and riverine communities to flee their homes for fear of being abducted or killed.
The House said a former chairman of Yakurr local government area, Hon. Ubi Itam Ettah, was kidnapped in Ugep on August 9, 2021, and the abductors escaped with him through the Ediba waterway-which runs from Cameroon through Etung – Ikom- Obubra – Yakurr – Abi – Biase – Akamkpa and Odukpani waterways to the Atlantic Ocean.
It was worried that the incessant abductions and other forms of criminality typify the height of insecurity that has forced prominent indigenes to seek refuge in neighbouring states of Abia, Benue, Ebonyi, and Enugu.
The House was alarmed that the rate of crime in the area have assumed a disturbing dimension with the wanton raid on business outfits and cold-blooded murder of prominent industrialists and economic actors as well as policemen and other security operatives.
It said the activities of the criminals have brought untold hardship to the people of the affected communities in Cross River State especially in Abi/Yakurr Federal Constituency.
