After the convoy of Senator Akon Eyakenyi, who represents the Eket senatorial district (Akwa Ibom South), killed a married couple on the Calabar-Itu Highway, young people from the Akon-Itam village in the Itu local government area of Akwa Ibom State have continued to demonstrate.
As the convoy made its way back to Uyo, the state's capital, from a Together with Pastor Umo Eno, the PDP's candidate for governor, Senator Eyakenyi will run as the party's deputy candidate for governor in the next elections in 2023.
One of the grieving teenagers, Comrade Utibe Inyang, said in a news interview that the convoy struck the couple on a motorcycle as it sought to cross the heavily packed route connecting Calabar, a city in the neighbouring state of Cross River.
He said that the handling of the senator's "paltry N2 million" settlement payment for the deceased family members made the problem much worse.
Inyang responded to a question regarding the couple's three young children by saying, "The husband and wife killed by her convoy left behind three young children; therefore, the pains we are feeling now are because of the disdainful attitude demonstrated by the deputy governorship candidate without considering how these young orphans would be trained and developed without their parents."
Locals allegedly assaulted and injured Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) personnel who had been sent to the area to control traffic. However, Mathew Olonisaye, the state's corps commander, asserted that "just our car was destroyed" when he talked with our correspondent. He said that everything had returned to normal now that the situation had been resolved.
The police commissioner, Mr. Olatoye Durosinmi, claimed that after successful discussions resulted in the parties involved taking a peaceful approach, order had been restored in the neighbourhood.