Chief Essien Matthew Odiong, the Village Head of Efen Ibom in Ika LGA in Akwa Ibom State, has been found guilty of murder and sentenced to death by hanging.
The traditional ruler was convicted for the murder of one of his subjects, Udoma Udo Ubom who was accused of being a wizard.
Justice Edem Akpan of the Akwa Ibom State High Court while delivering the judgment of four count charge of conspiracy leveled against the monarch, found him guilty of murder for injecting the deceased with a chemical substance which led to his death on the 26th of April, 2017.
Ubom was said to be accused of wizardry by his brothers, who was then ordered by the Village Head to take an oath to swear in order to prove his innocence.
The court held that, “Having sensed the consequences of his criminal activity, the monarch escaped from the village in 2017 and returned in 2019, when he was arrested by the Police.”
The court surmised that the chemical substance administered via syringe on the deceased buttocks was his cause of death.
Justice Edem Akpan the sentenced the 82-year old monarch to death by hanging for murder, seven years imprisonment with hard labor for overseeing an unlawful trial by ordeal and three years imprisonment for conspiracy with others who are yet to be apprehended by the authorities.
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