Gruesome Murder of Akaniyene Umoh

-Prime Suspect Moves to Indict Surviving Brother
BY EPHRAIM IKPE

Perhaps Akaniyene Umoh Akpan would have done a thing or two to positively touch his father, mother or siblings for the last six months if life was not sniffed out of him by persons alleged to have been sponsored by one Ette Enefiok Nyong, a former PDP Chapter Chairman of Itu LGA during Obong Victor Attah’s regime.
Weekly Insight investigations show that Ndifreke Umoh Akpan (junior brother to the deceased) was in his business shop at Urua Nkim, Nkim Itam in Itu LGA, Akwa Ibom State on July 29, 2011 while a man called Ette Enefiok Nyong was purported to have led a gang of men alleged in a petition to the AIG Zone 6 as Ette Enefiok Nyong’s “kidnapping squad” of six persons “namely; Elijah Effiong Ekpenyong; Kingsley Enefionk Nyong; Udo Sunday Ebong; Udeme Edet Aquaisua; Effiong Okon Bassey and Effiong Ette Adidaha”.
In a petition (Save Our Soul (S.O.S.)) to the Assistant Inspector General of Police (AIG) in charge of Zone 6, Calabar, dated October 18, 2011, and signed by Ndifreke Umoh Akpan and Kingsley Samuel Essien, members of the said terror gang were said to have been armed with guns, matchets and axes. The gang was said to have attacked and open fire on the three (Ndifreke, Akaniyene and Kingsley). 
Ndifreke and Kingsley were lucky to have fled to a safe distance from where they claim they watched as Akaniyene Akpan being butchered to death by the suspects. 
The deceased was the second son in a family of seven children, four boys and three females. After his WAEC in 1996, late Akaniyene learnt driving and auto-repairs, later worked with Gitto Construction Company and finally with a Courier Service Company until his gruesome murder.
It was further alleged that Mr. Enefiok Nyong who led the gang ordered that the corpse be taken away into a white Hilux vehicle (with no registration number) and taken to unknown destination. On the 30th of September 2011 Kingsley Samuel Essien, a friend to Ndifreke Akpan who escaped the first attack was further attacked by the same gang but he narrowly escaped through one Francis Umoh’s house and out of frustration, Mr. Umoh was kidnapped by the gang, kept in the bush for three days only to be released after payment of N60,000.00. Mr Francis Umoh, when freed told our source that the gang had wanted to kill Kingsley. Mr Umoh is said to have made reports to Zone 6 on the matter.
On the 16th day of October 2011 Kingsley was again alerted by an unknown caller that Enefiok Nyong, the principal suspect, was unleashing another attack through his gang which informed the fleeing of Kingsley, and when the gang struck and could not find Kingsley, their sporadic gunshots alerted Mr. and Mrs. Umoh Akpan, parents of the slain Akaniyene Umoh Akpan who live in same neighborhood. Because of intimidation, the chairman of the Village Council was said to have refused to make entry with the police at Itu Division that anybody was so killed, but the mother of the deceased reported the matter to Itu Divisional Police Headquarters but no arrests were said to have been made.
Based on the “Save Our Soul” petition written by Ndifreke and his late brother’s friend, on 3rd November, 2011 to the AIG ZONE 6, Ette Enefiok Nyong with six other members of his gang were arrested by SARS Zone 6 Police Headquarters, but were released on bail with others, leaving Elijah Effiong Ekpenyong and Udeme Edet Aquaisua still in police custody. 
Frustrated because of the various attempts alleged to be made to kill him by the said Ette Enefiok Nyong’s gang and other unknown gunmen, and coupled with some underhand activities with some members of the Police Force at Zone 6, the duo sent another petition dated November 18, 2011 to the AIG of ZONE 6, Calabar alerting him that the case he reported via a petition dated October 18, 2011 and assigned to SARS for investigation under Investigation Police Officer (IPO) Inspector Kingsley was not speedily attended to.
He alleged, “we have observed with dismay that the IPO, Inpsector Kingsley and other members of his investigative team have been financially and heavily compromised by the prime suspect, Ette Enefiok Nyong”. He argued further that it was out of place for a suspect in a murder case to be released the same day he was arrested, adding that there was no investigation before and after the arrest. He lamented his helplessness that even the other suspects, seven of them, arrested with the said prime suspect were released on bail which suretee was signed by the “prime suspect”.
In the words of the petitioner to the AIG Zone 6 on how the prime suspect boasted before the IPO that he will eliminate Ndifeke Akpan, “Sir, the prime suspect Ette Enefiok boasted in the presence of the IPO, Inspector Kingsley and the 2i/c SARS that he will make sure that we will be killed in no distant time and the IPO and the 2i/c did not react in any way up till this moment. This is how he boasted that he will (kill) my brother Akaniyene and this came to pass, today he (Enefiok Nyong) is a free man”.
Ndifreke Akpan and his friend had appealed for a transfer of the case to an independent and unbiased section of the Zone for proper investigation in their second petition to the AIG entitled, “RE: MURDER OF AKANIYENE UMOH AKPAN STOCKPILING OF AND POSSESSION OF FIRE ARMS WITH INTENTION TO KILL AND ELIMINATE NDIFREKE UMOH AND KINGSLEY SAMUEL ESSIEN, TRAINING AND FINANCING TERRORIST/KIDNAPPING SQUAD IN ITU LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA OF AKWA IBOM STATE BY ETTE ENEFIOK NYONG: S.O.S. – DEMAND FOR TRANSFER FROM ZONAL SARS DEPARTMENT TO A DIFFERENT, INDEPENDENT AND UNBIAS SETION FOR AN UNBAIS AND DISCREET INVESTIGATION”. Ndifreke Akpan said the whereabout of his late brother’s corpse was not known to him not until December 12, 2011 by 2 am. He stated that it was his IPO, Inspector Kingsley who took him to the mortuary at Sani Abacha Hospital to see the remains of his late brother before Chief Pathologist Dr. Memfin Ekpo who did the postmortem. What Weekend Insight could not establish as at press time was how the corpse of late Akaniyene Umoh Akpan got to the mortuary and got hidden from the knowledge of his brother from July 29 to December 12, 2012. Dr. Ekpo could not be reached for comments.
In a sharp twist, Weekend Insight learnt that when the complainants and the suspects were invited on January 4, 2012 to Zone 6 for interview, the IPO, one Inspector Kingsley turned around to arrest and detain the complainants on the allegation of wilful damage to the properties of the prime suspect, Ette Enefiok Nyong, leaving no one in doubt as to whether that was not an act of arm-twisting strategy to cow the complainants into abdicating the pursuit of justice.
It was also learnt that one of the suspects in police cell (Elijah Effiong Ekpenyong) in which the complainants were detained boasted that the detention of Ndifreke Umoh Akpan and Kingsley Samuel Essien was to pave way for settlement of the impending trial in the murder charge out of court.
In a chat with Weekly Insight, Ndifreke Akpan, brother of the deceased said Ette Enefiok Nyong is his maternal uncle whom he had served diligently for many years and had never stolen his money, that instead the man was holding back much of his money with no intention to pay. He alleged that his uncle was threatening to kill him to subvert justice on the murder of his senior brother. When asked what could propel the hatred of raising the gang that allegedly killed his brother, he said his uncle could have been aggrieved because of his stand politically during the last elections. He also alleged that he was being framed up as having been the one who killed his brother and based on such allegation which he called “baseless” he was detained at Zone 6.
Ndifreke said it took the intervention of his lawyer whose petition was pleaded should be withdrawn by the police to bail him out of Zone 6 police cell, but his late brother’s friend, Kingsley, was still being detained as at press time. He said he was looking for justice for the gruesome murder of his brother and that the court would decide that in due course.
When contacted through the cell phone, Ette Enefiok Nyong told our reporter that he had lived in Uyo since 70s and had not been involved in any criminal activity. He outrightly countered the allegation as false. He alleged that Ndifreke Akpan and his brother decided to go to play opposition party and that there was nothing wrong about that, but that what was wrong was that during the presidential election, he and his group, during a heated argument, attacked and dealt matchet cuts on his first son, Kingsley Enefiok Nyong (named in the petition by Ndifreke), sent to the AIG as one of those who attacked and allegedly killed Akaniyene Akpan), and he had to treat his son.
Asked what he knew about the death of late Akaniyene Umoh Akpan, he alleged that they (Ndifreke and his late brother) had disagreement with some of their cult group factions leading to some problems which Ndifreke’s mother, his biological sister, wanted him to support and since he refused to take sides with them their mother was angry with him. He narrated that Ndifreke and members of his group went to break his house and dealt matchete cuts on his first son the second time, and his grandmother who was 110 years old died of the shock as a result of the pandemonium they caused that day.
He said he reported the matter which took place in June 2011 at Ikot Akpan Abia State Police Headquarters and that the police were in search of them. He said he was having partial stroke then and he was indoors. He said Ndifreke went to Zone 6 to lodge his complaint and that on the day of burial of his grandmother police from Zone 6 came to his house with Charge Warrant alleging that he has guns in his house. He said the police searched his house and found no guns. He stated further that at Zone 6 the matter was investigated and he was found not culpable of the claims in the complainants’ petition and he was released. He said it was after the investigation that those found to be involved were arrested by the police. He mentioned one Elijah as being involved and who was arrested by the police at Zone 6. He stated that Ndifreke and Kingsley were also arrested and detained last week Wednesday.
Asked for the second time what he knows about the death of Akaniyene Akpan he said he did not know anything about it as he was in the church the day the boy was killed and he was only told that the Late Akaniyene had problems. He said his death must have been as a result of a clash between his cult group and another which reason he was not aware. He said he was not involved in the killing of his nephew, have no white Hilux and would not have thought of evil against his nephews. He referred our reporter to the village and the police at Zone 6 to find out more on the issue.
When our reporter called the AIG of Zone 6 his cell phone number was switched off. Attempts were made to get details of the case from IPO Inspector Kingsley on phone but he declined comments, saying that he was not in charge of the case, but rather referred our reporter to visit Zone 6 at Calabar to find out the details of the case as he did not know anything about it.