Mother of 3 Cry Out Over Slain Husband, Demands Justice 

MOTHER of three, Mrs Christiana Monday Isek, have cried out over the alleged killing of her husband, Monday Raphael Isek.

Christiana, had petitioned the Inspector General of Police, IGP Kayode Egbetokun, and Wife of the Governor, Bishop Eyoanwan, accusing one Mr Ubi Ikpi Ofem of killing the husband at a  cocoa farm in Etung Local government area of Cross River state.

She also alleges that Ubi Ikpi Ofem had bribed the family with N400,000 to enable them family bury him in Cross River.

In the petitioned dated Thursday, November 29, the wife appealed to  relevant authorities to arrest one Ubi, who she claimed allegedly killed her husband on September 26, 2024, inside the cocoa farm located at Block 2D/66 Ikom Cocoa Estate in the Cross River State government-owned in Etung. 

The young widow said she found out about her husband's death when he didn't return from the farm at the usual time he used to. 

The petition reads in part: "My husband left the house on the 26th of September 2024, saying he was going to the farm with his father, only for him to be killed by Ubi and his boys, who took his corpse and deposited it in the mortuary without my knowledge.

"But I later found out when I called my husband's line severally and a police officer from Ikom Area Command took the call and lied to me that my husband was arrested.

"On getting the information, i reported to the Ikom Area Command, and was instructed to check the notice board. I did, but my husband's name was not there. So, I waited till nightfall and later left, following other officers' effort to comb the cell for my husband.

"However, the next day, September 26, I summoned up courage and went to the Area Command with my in-laws. When we got there, I saw the policeman I was talking with on the phone with Ubi coming out from the same vehicle. And the officer brought out my husband's bag which I identified.

"There and then the officer started telling me that my husband is dead and that Ubi went and carried him from the farm and deposited his body in the mortuary, and that Ubi told him that his boys went to the farm to see my husband's corpse," she said.

Christiana, who then requested to see her husband's corpse, said the police took her to the mortuary, "and they brought out the corpse; it was my husband."

She said when they got back home, a Bishop from the Apostolic Church came and offered them N400,000 for them to bury the case by burying her husband.

 "When we came back from the mortuary after they had killed my husband, they sent one Bishop Collins Ogar, who came with N400,000, to bribe us so that we would not take the matter to the Police State Command in Calabar, but we refused.

"They said we should use the money to bury my husband. They also said we should say it was my husband's farm group whom they bought cocoa farms together under former Governor Ben Ayade's government that killed him.

" I want the police to also ask Collins the reason why he brought that money to us to bury my husband if he doesn't know anything concerning my husband's death.

"However, when we went to report the matter to the State Command, the Commissioner of Police, CP Gyogon Augustine Grimah, walked me out while trying to explain my ordeal.

 "Other Police officers from Ikom Area Command and Etung Division came in, while I was trying to explain, the Commissioner walked me out again but the Commissioner later called me inside and asked if my husband was sick but I said, "No."

"I'm view of all these, I am calling for justice for my late husband who was killed, leaving behind three children and at this young age, I have become a widow. 

"I am begging the Wife of the Governor, Her Excellency, Bishop Eyoanwan Bassey Otu, to help me. I don't know where to start with these little children; who will pay their school fees? Who will feed them? Should their future end just like that?

"I am also begging the IGP to help me unless he wants my husband's death to be buried just like they've already buried the matter in the state. I only want justice for my husband who was gruesomely murdered. Let the person that killed my husband be brought to book."

Family also demands justice

On his part, Monday's father, Mr Rapheal Isek, who witnessed the alleged death of his son, said his son came to him one day in 2022 with documents, saying he had paid for a parcel of cocoa farm from former Governor Ayade's administration.

Mr Isek said his late son, who had already given him 2 hectares, asked him to follow him to the farm on that said day, and he agreed out of fear following what Ubi had earlier done to him and his first son, Daniel. 

"As we got to the farm, Monday, who is my second son, started plucking the cocoa while I was gathering them. Ubi and his boys showed up and started manhandling my son, who had already paid for the farmland.

"They tied him up with ropes and started beating him up with machetes. They wanted to come for me, I ran and hid myself where they couldn't find me," Mr Irek said.

According to him, while hiding, "I saw Ubi with a vehicle; he carried my son, who was looking lifeless at that point and put him in the vehicle and took him to the mortuary. He never brought in the police, he did it by himself."

Continuing, Mr Isek added, "after he has deposited the body of my son in the mortuary, that's when he came and carried the police and started boasting that there's nothing we can do as he controls the police."

Mr Isek, who also called the IGP to take over the matter and bring the killers of his son to book, said: "My late son has a wife and three children, and I don't have anything for I am helpless. My grandchildren are asking for their father, his wife is now without a husband and his mother has been crying herself out.

"I am calling on the Inspector General of Police to come to our aid as the Commissioner of Police has failed us. My son is still at the mortuary while Ubi is walking scot-free."

He said before then, Ubi had attempted to kill him and his first son, Daniel, in the same farmland.

Equally narrating their ordeal, Daniel Raphael Isek, elder brother to late Monday, said Ubi attempted to kill him and his father.

 "On August 13, 2024, my father asked me to accompany him to the farm my late brother, Monday, bought from the government, under former Governor Ayade, at Camp 3.

"While we were working on the farm, we saw Ubi and some people entering the farm, calling them thieves and asking them to raise their hands.

 "He [Ubi] asked if I was Monday, I told him Monday is my younger brother. He said we should thank our God that it is not Monday, he would have killed him. He told us to tell Monday that any day he sees him on the farm, he is going to kill him.

"Ubi and his boys gave us the beating of our life, threatening to kill my father. When we asked why, Ubi said he'd cut our head with the machete he was holding. 

"Before I could realise it, he raised the machete to cut my neck; I swiftly used my left hand to block it and that's how the machete cut my hand and split the veins near my wrist, and blood started gushing out.

"Not yet done, Ubi went after my father and threathened to kill him, but we pleaded with him to allow him to prepare local medicine to stop the bleeding.

 "It took the intervention of some farmers before Ubi allowed my father to give me first aid," he narrated.

Daniel explained that after beating them up, Ubi took his motorcycle and handed over to the army officers who took us to the Army Camp 3 around Etome Junction in Etung and detained my father.

There at the detention camp, the officers asked us to pay N300,000 which we couldn't untill the intervention of a good Samaritan.

Since then all attempts to get Ubi to book has proved abortive as he has always allegedly compromised the security operatives at every process, bragging that Police is in his (Ubi) pocket 

Ubi Ikpi Ofem's Response

When contacted, Ubi said: "I am very, very innocent about that allegation. I am very, very innocent," he said.

Nigeria Police Reacts

Reacting, SP Irene Ugbo, Police Public Relations Officer in the State, said she could not confirm whether the matter had been reported to the Commissioner of Police.

"If it's a case that is already ongoing, I cannot confirm because I don't know whether they have reported to the Commissioner of Police. I have to find out. I cannot confirm a story that I am not aware of. If it is a petition, if somebody has complained, investigation would be going on until otherwise.

"So, you have to wait for me to confirm if truly they have reported the case to the police, and investigation is ongoing."