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Forum faults Akwa Ibom's exclusion from Niger Delta peace panel
From Aniekan Bassey, Uyo
A FORUM organised by the House of Representatives Committee on Publicity, to articulate measures to tackle the crisis in the Niger Delta, has criticised the exclusion of Akwa Ibom State from the Presidential Committee on Reconciliation in the area.
President Olusegun Obasanjo had recently named the governors of Delta, Bayelsa and Rivers states as members of the committee but excluded Governor Victor Attah of Akwa Ibom. No representative of the state is on the panel.
At the forum, one of the spokesmen, Chief Udo Mbosoh, frowned at the action, saying it was an attempt to cause bad feelings among the state, the Federal Government and the sister states in the region.
He said it was a fact that the state equally suffered from the devastation of the ecosystem, arising from oil exploration in the Niger Delta, so any step towards alleviating the problem should always embrace all.
Mbosoh urged the government not to punish the state for maintaining a peaceful environment, which should be encouraged rather than making a hero out of state with militia groups.
Meanwhile, the state government has offered a N1 million ransom for any information that would lead to arrest of a gang of armed robbers that struck last week, killing a Divisional Police Officer (DPO) and three policemen at Essien Udim Local Council.
The Secretary to the state government, Mr. Effiong Essang, disclosed the amount in a statement in Uyo at the weekend.
According to him, the robbers made away with N18 million meant for payment of teachers' salaries after killing the DPO, identified as one Mr. Akpan Ekwere and three of his lieutenants in a gun duel.
The state government's intervention may have followed the inability of the police to apprehend the suspects in the tragedy.
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