Man murdered in cold blood over land dispute in Akwa Ibom

On Wednesday, a 42-year-old man, Edidiong Joseph Effiong was murdered in cold blood over a land dispute between two families in Ibiaku Itam in Itu local government area of Akwa Ibom State.

According DailyPost, the deceased was severely cut around his neck region by his suspected assailant, Ambrose Bassey Jeremiah, before he died.

The father of the deceased, Chief Joseph Effiong, who is also the family head of the greater Ikamaenyin family of Ikot Efaha Itong community, said

“The land belonged to my late father since the 30’s and when I grew up I inherited the land at his death. Part of the land is where I am building this house and shops here as you can see.

“But along the line, precisely in 2010, this boy of over 35 years old started laying claim to the land, saying someone in the community showed him the plot as belonging to them.

“The matter has been in court since 2010 and the case was to be decided on August 8, when he decided to take the laws into his own hands perhaps in anticipation of losing the case.”

Effiong explained that the fleeing suspect came to his compound, armed with a very sharp machete, which he threw and caught in mid-air three times before dashing into the disputed land. 

“With that very sharp machete, he cut my plantain in that land and started raining abuses. When I was told he had cut the plantain, I asked that he be left to go with it perhaps he was hungry, but my son, apparently provoked by his abuses, was forced to pursue after him,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), SP Odiko Macdon, who confirmed the incident, said, “the Commissioner of Police (CP), Mr. Zaki Ahmed, has ordered that the case be transferred to the State Criminal Investigation Department (CID) for investigation”. He said the suspect will be found and brought to face the law for his actions.