07 September 2022 :

An 82-year-old Village Head of Efen Ibom, Ika Local Government Area Akwa Ibom State, Chief Essien Matthew Odiong has been sentenced to death by hanging for murder, Idomavoice reported on 13 August 2022.
The judgment was passed on Odiong by an Akwa Ibom State High Court sitting in Uyo.
The convict, who is married to 12 wives with 60 children, was standing trial on a four count charge of conspiracy, directing unlawful trial by ordeal, stealing of the motorcycle and murder of the owner, a member of his community, Udoma Akpan Udo Ubom.
In a judgment, the Court presided over by Justice Edem Akpan, found the accused guilty of murder of Udoma Akpan Udo Ubom by injecting some chemical substance on him, leading to his death on 26 April, 2017.
The late Ubom was accused by his brothers of being a wizard and was reported to the Village Head, who brought him before the Efen Clan Council, where the deceased was given an oath to swear that he was not a wizard.
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.”
Justice Akpan also held that since “the accused had voluntarily admitted that he sat at Efen Clan Council with five other village heads and members of the Clan Council to try the deceased on the allegation of witchcraft, the law has relieved the prosecution of the burden to prove the offense of conspiracy.”