Akwa Ibom Monarch, Palace Aides To Hang For Murder

At last, justice has been served on the factional village head of Ikot Ebita, Chief Effiong Okon Ukime, in Nsit Atai local government area of Akwa Ibom State for murdering 28-year-old Archibong Edem Bassey.

The State High Court sitting in Uyo, the state capital, at the weekend sentenced him alongside two senior palace officials including his secretary, Chief Sylvanus Edet Effiong, and his chief security officer, Ubong Udo Okpon, to death by hanging.

The court found the trio guilty of murdering the deceased over a dispute bothering on vested right to harvest the community palm fruits.

LEADERSHIP Sunday gathered that the death of the substantive village head, Chief John Nyong Ekanem, had triggered succession crisis with two aspirants – Chief Aniedi Etim Ikpe, a former village council chairman and Chief Ukime Okon Effiong, said to have emerged to contest the vacant stool soon after the burial of the late monarch.

The contest polarised the village into two opposing factions with the convicts aligning with Chief Aniedi Etim Ikpe, while the family of the deceased village head supported Chief Ukime Okon Effiong.

This division generated hostility and a fierce power struggle, particularly over control of village economic resources – most notably palm fruit plantations, and evidence before the court showed that the faction associated with the defendants gained the upper hand and asserted authority and control over the village.

They were said to have assumed control of the village administration and unilaterally determined how palm fruits were to be harvested.

To consolidate control, they hired security guards from Ikot Itie Udung, a neighbouring community, who were placed under the supervision of the third convict, Ubong Udo Okpon, and were paid N25,000 monthly.

However, the court heard that in August 2021, the deceased, Archibong Edem Bassey, had harvested palm fruits from his personal plantation, but security operatives arrested him and took him before the first convict, the factional village head.

He was assaulted, fined N1,000 for his release, and sternly warned not to enter the plantation again or risk being killed.

This threat was corroborated by the testimony of the first prosecution witness, PW1, the deceased’s elder brother, Sunday Edet Bassey, who stated in court that the defendants had asked him to warn his late brother to steer clear from the plantation or risk being killed.

The court noted that this testimony was not challenged during cross-examination, and relying on settled legal principles that unchallenged evidence is deemed admitted, the court accepted this fact as established.

The testimony recalled that on September 10, 2021, the faction led by the first convict reportedly lifted a ban on palm fruit harvesting, and the same day, the deceased informed a witness, Gabriel Etim Effiong, that he was going to protect his palm trees, but oblivious of the death lurking, he was never seen alive again.

The next day, September 11, 2021, his lifeless body was discovered in his plantation with visible marks of being subjected to violence and the matter lodged at Nsit Atai Police Division.

The convicts also appeared at the station, claiming they had come to report that the deceased had gone missing before his corpse was discovered.

However, the court found this conduct inconsistent with innocence when viewed alongside prior threats, the power struggle and the circumstances of death.

Therefore, Justice Ette held that the prosecution successfully proved the existence of a conspiracy that the defendants caused the death of the deceased, that the act was intentional and preceded by threats and consequently convicted the trio to be hanged.

In handing down the judgment, Justice Ette, condemned the abuse of traditional authority and misuse of power, noting that “When men decide to play god at the slightest opportunity that power falls into their laps, they should not fail to exercise such power within the tenets of mercy and righteousness.

“Otherwise, power, the famous banana peel, has a canny way of showing such men of inordinate ambition that when you ride a tiger, you end up as a meal. It is most unjust and highly condemnable to take the life of another in his own property. Those who live by the sword shall die by the sword.

“Having come to the conclusion that you violated the laws of nature and of this great country, I hereby sentence the three of you to death by hanging. May the good Lord have mercy on your souls, if He so desires,” he concluded.