Akwa Ibom court sentences 82-year-old monarch to death for murder

A State High Court of Akwa Ibom has sentenced Chief Matthew Odiong, aged 82, a traditional ruler of the Efen Ibom community in the Ika LGA of the state, to death by hanging.

A State High Court of Akwa Ibom has sentenced Chief Matthew Odiong, aged 82, a traditional ruler of the Efen Ibom community in the Ika LGA of the state, to death by hanging.

The court, headed by Justice Edem Akpan, found the ruler guilty of murder. The monarch is well-known in Akwa Ibom of Nigeria for marrying 12 wives and giving birth to around 60 children.

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He was accused of four counts, including conspiracy, directing criminal trial by ordeal, robbing a motorcycle and murder of its owner, Udoma Udo Ubom.

In his judgement on Friday, August 12, Justice Akpan stated that the court found the suspect guilty of murder by injecting some chemical substance into the victim, causing his death on April 26, 2017.

The court stated that the monarch fled from the village in 2017 when he sensed the consequences of his criminal activities and came back in 2019 when he got arrested by the Police.

Justice Akpan said that the accused had voluntarily confessed that he sat at the Efen Clan Council along with five other village heads and clan council members to try the victim on the allegation of witchcraft, as stated by his brothers and the law has eased the prosecution of the burden of proving the offence of conspiracy.

Furthermore, the court held that the admission of the process of trial and the decision of the Efen Clan Council to administer oath on the deceased has brought to the decision that a plastic bath on the head of the deceased Udoma Akpan Udo Ubom and insinuating some chemical substance via a syringe into his buttocks by the village head caused the death of the victim.

Judge Edem Akpan has sentenced the monarch to death by hanging for murder along with seven years of imprisonment with hard labour for leading a criminal trial by ordeal and three years of jail for conspiracy with others now at large.

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Before the verdict was declared, the convicted Village Head, popularly known as ‘Kill and Bury’, begged for leniency, demanding the court to temper justice with mercy.

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