A 35-year old man, Mr. Uwem Job, on
Wednesday, beheaded two of his cousins, Mr. Akaninyene Job, 45; and
Ezekiel Job, 36. Two other cousins – Itoro Job and Ekemini Job –
narrowly escaped death as Uwem’s machete missed their throats, but cut
through their hands. They were said to have been taken to a hospital in
the area. Eyewitnesses said the incident occurred around 8.10am in Ikot
Nkim, Ibesikpo/Asutan Local Government Area, Akwa Ibom State.
It was learnt that Uwem fled after the
incident and his whereabouts had not been known. Akaninyene’s younger
brother, Mr. Ekemini Job said that around 8.10am,
Uwem came to their house and told Akaninyene to come with him, saying
that he had something to show him (Akaninyene). He stated that as
Akaninyene opened the curtain to see what Uwem had for him, he (Uwem)
hit Akaninyene on the neck with a machete and severed his head from the
body. Ekemini said, “Uwem came to our house around 8am and asked
Akaninyene to open the door and collect something he brought for him.
“Uwem had a 25-litre keg of fuel in his hand and had hid a machete that
he brought with him.
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“People who saw Uwem thought the keg
contained palm wine. As my brother opened the curtain to see Uwem, he
quickly brought out his machete and severed Akaninyene’s head from his
body.”An elder sister to Akaninyene, Mrs. Christian Ekong, said they
were at the backyard when the shouts from Ekemini aroused their
attention. “Ekemini saw Uwem killing Akaninyene and raised the alarm. As
we rushed to the scene of the killing, I saw Uwem spilling the fuel on
the flour. He then struck a match. “I raised the alarm, alerting
everybody in the house to run. If not for the quick intervention of the
youth of the area, the entire house would have been burnt down,” Ekong
said.
Ezekiel was said to have been killed few
minutes after Akaninyene had been beheaded. The distance between where
Akaninyene lived and that of Ezekiel was said to be about 20 metres. An
eyewitness, Okon Eyo, told our correspondent that Ezekiel was just
waking up when Uwem called at his home and beheaded him. He said, “We
heard shouts from Akaninyene compound, but we did not know what had
happened. The next moment, we saw Uwem go straight into Ezekiel room,
which was next to his (Uwem) and severe Ezekiel’s head. “Before we knew
what had happened, Uwem had fled. We will apprehend him. We believe he
is hiding around this area.” When our correspondent visited the area,
both bodies were laid in front of their houses.
Akaninyene’s younger sister, Mrs. Comfort
Okon, told our correspondent that the killer of her brother and Ezekiel
came back from Lagos about two weeks ago.“There had never been any
quarrel in the family. When my mother was buried on February 22, all the
family members, including Uwem, were there. They were the ones who
perfected all the burial arrangement, I don’t know why this has
happened,” she said.Bodies of the deceased, Akaninyene and Ezekiel, were
later taken to the mortuary in a police van. Efforts to reach the state
Police Public Relations Officer, Mr. Etim Dickson, to confirm the story
failed as he did not answer calls to his telephone or respond to text
messages sent to the phone.
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