The people of south community and the combined traditional rulers council in Odukpani Local Government Area of Cross Rivers State have called on the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Ibrahim Idris to release their clan head, Etiyin Edet Okon Eyet Ebita who was whisked away and detained by the State Police Command.
According to a release signed by Chief Inyang Inyang on behalf of the Ito combined traditional rulers council and made available to our correspondent in Calabar, they described the detention of the monarch as unlawful.
Inyang berated the police for the arrest and detention of the monarch, that the Fulani herdsmen whom the police had arrested the traditional rulers to please had hatched another plan to unleash the second attack again on Miabong Ito, in Ito North clan also in Odukpani Local Government Area of the State.
He explained that the clan head was detained after a meeting with the deputy commissioner of police, State Criminal Investigations Department (SCID) Calabar on February 16, 2018 for alleged murder or missing Fulani herdsman.
He wondered why their clan head was being detained by the police because of a Fulani herdsman who was declared missing after an encounter with the villagers when the herdsmen allegedly attacked the village on last December 5, 2017 and destroyed their farmlands and crops.
The community leader alleged that their efforts to resolve the dispute amicably with the herdsmen ended in deadlock as the herdsmen later attacked the villagers with very sophisticated weapons, inflicting various degrees of injuries on some persons.
He said they were shocked that a traditional ruler was not at the scene of the incident which occurred in Ito North clan which was about eight kilometers away from where the detained clan head was residing was being whisked away by the police.

Friday Nwagbara, Calabar