THE Akwa Ibom State police command said all arrangements had been concluded for the prosecution of the prime suspect and accomplices in the murder of Miss Iniubong Umorem, a University of Uyo (UNIUYO) Philosophy graduate.
The Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO) in the state, Mr Odiko Macdon, a Superintendent of Police, who disclosed this to Saturday Tribune on Friday, said with the completion of the autopsy, the police were ready to prosecute the suspects.
Umorem was lured, raped and killed by one Uduak Frank Akpan through a phoney job offer in Uyo, the state capital. Denying an allegation that the case had been taken over by the State Security Service (SSS), Macdon stated that only the police were empowered by law to handle such cases.
He added that the matter was already being handled by the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP). The police spokesman said: “Autopsy on the corpse of Iniubong Umoren has been conducted. The result is out. We now have what it takes to nail Frank. It was very painful for people to say the police didn’t do a nice job. “I read that we have handed over the case to the DSS. No. The police cannot hand over a case file to the DSS for prosecution. It is not possible. Police is the lead agency in internal security. “There are some cases that when they happen, they must still be sent down to the police for prosecution.
It is only the police that can enforce any law in this country. Some specialised agencies cannot enforce any law that does not fall within their preview. We worked with the DPP to get those people remanded in the Nigeria Correctional Service even before the court resumed.
They will be arraigned. We have sent the case files of Uduak Frank Akpan and we can authoritatively tell you the case will soon commence as the DPP has already registered the matter for the commencement of legal processes. “Let me assure you that the command will leave no stone unturned in ensuring that the case is prosecuted logically because we have carried out the autopsy and have the result. We have the suspects in custody.
We have the legal teams ready and we have a robust relationship with the justice department because we are all ministers in the temple of justice.” Umoreen was raped and murdered and buried by Akpan on April 29, 2021, after the deceased had responded to a phoney employment opportunity posted on the Internet by the suspect.
Akpan had told his police interrogators that the late Umoreen had, in an attempt to resist being raped, hit him on the head with a stabiliser, bit off his fingers and screamed for help. “While I was bleeding, in a bid to stop her, I used the same stabiliser to hit her. She fell and started bleeding,” Akpan claimed.
The suspect also told the police that though he had raped six different ladies under the same circumstance as of Umoreen, the deceased was the only one he had killed.
Umoreen had since been buried in her hometown, Nung Ita, Ikot Essienin Oruk Anam Local Government Area of the state, while the public clamour for her killer remains unabated.
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