The elder sister of murdered Akwa Ibom job seeker Iniubong Umoren has distanced Senate President Godswill Akpabio from her death, even as she declared unequivocally: “My sister’s organs were intact during autopsy.” Ifiok Ephraim Umoren made the clarifications addressing a press conference she addressed on Saturday in Uyo, the Akwa Ibom State capital.
Iniubong Umoren, it would be recalled, was gruesomely murdered on April 29, 2021 by UduakAbasi Frank Akpan after tricking her to his father’s residence in Nung Ikot Ufok Village, Uruan Local Government Area of the state, on the pretext of a job interview. He was arraigned before Akwa Ibom State High Court, Uyo, found guilty of rape and murder and sentenced to death on August 4, 2022.
Iniubong’s death, however, has once more become an issue following a recent Facebook live broadcast by US-based activist and media personality, Dr. Sandra C. Duru, during which she reported suspended Kogi Central Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, as accusing Senate President Akpabio of using Iniubong’s organs to save the life of his then-sick wife, Unoma Ekaette Akpabio.
But all that is balderdash, according to Ifiok Ephraim Umoren, who was flanked by the State Director of Public Prosecution, Mr. Friday Johnson Itim, and the State Coordinator of Legal Aid Council, Mr. Samuel Abdullah (lawyer to the convicted UduakAbasi), as she addressed the press on Saturday.
“How can someone tell me — indeed the world —that my sister’s organs were harvested? Did the person who accused another go and harvest my sister’s organs after burial?” she asked in a grief-stricken voice.
After recounting how her sister died, she said about her organs: “Before burial, the police took the corpse to University of Uyo Teaching Hospital, Uyo for autopsy. Two policemen and I were inside the room and witnessed the autopsy. All organs in her body were complete. On May 18, 2021, she was buried.”
Miss Ifiok added: “Throughout the arrest, prosecution and conviction of the murderer, UduakAbasi never mentioned Akpabio. How can a Senator who was not a witness accuse Akpabio as the person who harvested the organs of my sister?”
Responding to a question on if the family was considering prosecuting Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan for peddling false information, she replied: “We are considering the option.”
Corroborating Ifiok’s story, State Director of Public Prosecution, Friday Johnson Itim, said: “The prosecution called 10 witnesses. At the end, UduakAbasi was convicted. It is, therefore, outrageous and a lie for anybody to infer or conclude that Senator Godswill Akpabio had a hand in the murder in the state talk less of harvesting her organs.
“I want to call on appropriate authority in the country to prosecute Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan for raising false alarm and information.”
Similarly, Samuel Abdullah, who defended UduakAbasi during his trial, joined in condemning Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan’s allegation of organ harvesting. He dismissed it as a lie, saying that the person who alleged should be held responsible for the offence.
“Throughout the prosecution and conviction, the prosecutor and defender never mentioned organ harvesting against Akpabio. The prosecution file is in public domain for anybody to assess. We should not assume the issue,” he noted.
The lawyer added that a pathologist carried out an autopsy on the deceased and the certified true copy of the report is in public domain, describing the allegation of organ harvesting as false and baseless.
