The Akwa Ibom State Police Command has denied that two people died and others seriously injured in the Edere Obo market collapse in Onna Local Government Area on Monday.
Multiple media reports had indicated that Commissioner of Police, Murtala Mani.confirmed the incident in a telephone conversation with journalists in Uyo.
“Two women died during the tragedy caused by the collapse of an old wall that fell on them.
“Others who sustained injuries have been taken to the hospital for treatment,” the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) quoted him as saying.
The incident happened nine days after a Church building collapse claimed scores of lives at Reigners Bible Church in Uyo on December 10.
Addressing a press conference at the Command Headquarters, Ikot Akpan Abia, on Tuesday, Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Cordelia Nwawe, however, stated that nobody died as a result of the market incident but that nine people were wounded.
According to her, four severely injured were scheduled to undergo surgery at the Ibom Specialist Hospital while five responding to treatment.
The police charged the people to disregard what they called panicky and conflicting report trailing the incident but to rather confirm facts and figure about the incident from the Commissioner for Health, Dr Dominic Ukpong, and Mani.
Nwawe also debunked the claims that the police were being pressurised by Akwa Ibom State Government to issue statement on the incident but rather stated that Mani has thoroughly and discreetly investigated the incident and has unravel the truth about the matter.
The PPRO assured the people of Akwa Ibom state that all round surveillance will be carried out in the state to secure and protect lives and property during the Christmas and New Year festivities.
She warned miscreants and other people of questionable character capable of breaching the peace of the people to flee the state with immediate effect.
