Written By Clifford Thomas, Uyo
Until the dastardly act of June 20, 2009 at the sand quarry site acquired by the late Obong Okon J. Ekpenyong of the Nung Akpan Okuidem family of Ewet Offot in Uyo local government area, the Ekpenyongs, was one large happy family made of three male and five female siblings, and providence was kind to them. After 20th of June, 2009 when hitherto unidentified gun men attacked the business premises of the Ekpeyongs, killing both Mathias Okon Ekpenyong, and his eldest brother,
Engineer Emmanuel Okon Ekpenyong (who was abducted, but later shot multiple times), in cold blood, there was instant outcry, which has not fully abated in Uyo and several parts of the state, underscoring the “porous” state of security in Akwa Ibom, a combination of anger and fear, prevails. Though the matter was to have been swept under the carpet as usual, adding it to the statistics of unresolved murders in the state and country, very sore fingers have refused to be hidden.
Events following the murder showed that there are more to it than meets the eye. Some persons have described the events as “products of the usual stories of murders that appear to have similar execution pattern, with complicity of some persons high up there.”
The role played by the police at the outset of the matter was commendable, but the extant realities right now, are said to be complicating the matter further.
Acting independent of any negative extraneous influence, the police in the state and Zone Six in Calabar had surprised Nigerians and the international community by moving swiftly into the matter, making targeted apprehension of key suspects. The suspects were paraded for identification by principal witnesses. Three of the suspects were identified from the number of suspects paraded, and the vehicle used for the operation was also identified, with the accompanying dents that defined the minor accident the vehicle was involved with while trying to escape the crime scene.
With the identification parade over, and the suspects fully kept in police custody, high level manipulations started with heavy-dose influence oozing from authorities and officials that are supposed to be in the position to help assuage the assault in reason, and people. The police became both the purveyor of the opprobrium, as well as the culprits of the process it operated. The suspects in their custody, were not only released and allowed to walk the streets of society (ostensibly, to further perpetuate more heinous acts) freely.
Did the police actually apprehend four suspects who were followed from Uyo, driving in the same vehicle allegedly used in committing the crime three days earlier, at Odukpani Junction? Did the police not keep the suspects pending their identification after parading them before key witnesses who were at the scene of the murder? When and why did the police release the suspects when the matter had not been properly investigated, and tried in court? Who authorized the release of the suspects, given the gravity of the offence? Can the police in Zone 6, Calabar actually prove that it was not compromised in anyway by state officials who had interest in the matter?
Could it be true that the police in Zone 6 started the process of turning the matter around, by acting a script to implicate prominent indigenes of Uyo local government area over the murder, after releasing the principal suspects without any court order? Why was a hapless young man, David Uboh, who still recovering from a health condition that he has been managing for over one year, arrested, tortured and kept in police custody for about three months, even after collapsing several times in detention?
Why did the AIG, Zone 6, Mr. Azubuike Udah, release identified suspects whose names were given as WHO KILLED THE EKPENYONG BROTHERS?, without a court order to that effect? Why did the same AIG order the arrest of the following persons:- Joseph Ita Ekong (from Uyo), David Uboh (from Uyo), Itoro William (from Ibesikpo), Dr. Chris Nyong (chairman of Uyo local government council), councillors of the council amongst others.
It is alleged that Uyo and persons from some segments of the state have been made targets and victims of some carefully arranged schemes. It is an established fact that over ninety seven percent (97%) of the attacks on people in the state draw their victims and casualties from persons who come from a certain section of the state, and the facts are very clear, from available records.
It is pertinent to ask why it became necessary to include the name of the only surviving brother of the murdered brothers, Fabian Ekpenyong, as a star witness, by the office of the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP), so that he will stand as a witness against David Uboh et al. who were later arrested by the police, and without any suspect identification parade, accused as suspects in the murder? Is it true that Fabian rejected the antics used by the police in forcing him to stand as a witness against persons who said were different from the ones identified during the suspect identification parade in Calabar?
Why is Fabian, the only surviving Ekpenyong brother, still receiving threat calls and messages for refusing to cooperate in this episode? Who is after Fabian Ekpenyong, after murdering the Ekpenyongs in cold blood, leaving the burden of carrying on as the forced patriarch of the family on his shoulders?
Who killed the Ekpenyong brothers? Who is responsible for the killings in the state? Why can’t this particular one be resolved in the face of these man-made complications? What was the aim of killing the Ekpenyong brothers whose contributions to Uyo and the state, particularly in football development, was exemplary? How soon will the police resolve this matter, and what role will the Inspector General of Police, Ogbonaya Onovo, play in restoring the image of the police? Can the police come of this burgeoning scandal unscratched?
Information has it that Mr. Itoro Williams, one of the hapless fellows later arrested without identification parade, is still rotting in police custody because he has no one to bail him out. A dependable source hinted that the young man cannot pay the amount required of him; so he remains in police custody for a better part of five months, without trial.
Engineer Emmanuel Ekpenyong, who was popularly called “submarine” due to his football artistry was a civil engineer by training, and left a wife and seven children behind. He was the proprietor of EMLOE Group, which included a thriving football club. Philanthropy was a major area of strength for him, and has trained and assisted thousands of persons, who constitute the vanguard of mourners, aside his family members.
Mathias Ekpenyong, also known as MBOTA, was a well known football tactician who gave his being to the game. It is recorded that his killers pumped 28 bullets into his side, and vertebral column. He left seven children behind; these were children he desired greatly, to train into becoming positive contributors to society.
The police has assured that the killers would be brought to book. But the challenge posed by such assurance is that its actions, appear to negate that position. And until the police damn sentiments and arraign the original suspects in court, the cloud of doubt will remain on the police and its role.
Who killed the Ekpenyong brothers? The world is watching, and still waiting to get the answers!
Thomas writes from Uyo