Akwa Ibom traditional ruler sentenced to death for ordering the death of local man accused of witchcraft

AKWA Ibom traditional ruler Chief Essien Matthew Odiong has been sentenced to death by hanging an Akwa Ibom State High Court after he was found guilty of the murder of one Udoma Udo Ubom.

In a ruling delivered on Friday, the court, presided over by Justice Edem Akpan, sentenced Chief Odiong, the 82-year-old village head of Efen Ibom in Ika Local Government Area of the state, to death. Chief Odiong,  married to 12 wives and father of 60 children, was standing trial on four counts of conspiracy, directing the unlawful trial by ordeal, stealing of the motorcycle and murder of Udoma Udo Ubom.

Delivering judgment Justice Akpan said the court found the accused guilty of murder of the deceased by injecting some chemical substance into him, leading to his death on April 26 2017. Late Mr  Ubom was accused by his brothers of being a wizard and was reported to the village head, who brought him before the council, where the deceased was administered an oath to swear and prove his innocent.

Justice Akpan ruled: “The accused had voluntarily admitted that he sat on the Efen Clan Council with five other village heads and members of the Clan Council to try the deceased on the allegation of witchcraft, and the law has relieved the prosecution of the burden to prove the offense of conspiracy. Having sensed the consequences of his criminal activity, the monarch escaped from the village since 2017 and returned in 2019, when he was arrested by the police.

"The admission of the process of trial and the decision of Efen Clan Council to administer oath on the deceased, has logically brought to the conclusion the case. Apparently, a plastic bath was placed on the head of the late Udoma Akpan Udo Ubom and some chemical substance was injected through a syringe into his buttocks by the village head, causing the death of the deceased.”

Justice Edem Akpan sentenced the village head to death by hanging for murder, seven years imprisonment with hard labour for directing unlawful trial by ordeal and three years imprisonment for conspiracy with others now at large. However, before the sentence was announced, the convicted village head, popularly known as Kill and Bury pleaded for leniency, asking the court to temper justice with mercy.