Confesses village council ex-chairman allegedly asked him, four others to kill pregnant women for N50,000 each

THE Akwa Ibom State Police Command has paraded a 28-year-old man, Mr. Edet Stephen Asuquo, suspected to have murdered a pregnant woman after luring her to his backyard to sell more oysters to her.

According to the state Police Public Relations Officer, Cornelia Nwawe, who stood in for the state Police Commissioner, Mr. Murutala Mani, the suspect, who hails from Ikot Otu, Mbiabo in Itu Local Council, committed the hideous crime on Monday, January 11, 2016. She explained that the unidentified victim was a regular customer of the suspect.

According to the PPRO, the unsuspecting woman was murdered and buried at the plantain plantation behind the suspect’s house, adding that her body was later found the following morning.

“On the said day, a pregnant mother had gone to the market to buy oysters from the man, who has always been her regular seller. The suspect stated after investigation that he had lured the woman back to his home to buy more oysters. In the process, he murdered her.

“The unsuspecting customer had followed the killer to the back of the house where she met her gruesome death. Immediately he did the act, he hid her at a plantain farm with the hope of going back at night to remove the foetus from the woman’s womb. Unfortunately, his sister had seen him and reported back to their elder brother,” she explained.

Speaking with journalists on his involvement in the alleged crime, the suspect, Mr. Edet Asuquo, said he was paid to carry out the assignment by a former chairman of his village council.

He said there were five persons that the man, who is trying to return as the village council chairman, approached, promising to pay each of them N50,000 after successfully carrying out the act, which according to the former chairman, needed the fetus and heads of the pregnant women for ‘juju’ to enable him to retain the position of chairman of the village council.

He confirmed that the woman had been his long-standing customer, but he did not know where she came from or her name. “I am here because of the job given to us by the village council chairman, who paid five of us to kill pregnant women so that their heads and the unborn babies would be removed and used for charm for the council chairman to be appointed.

“He said that after we have carried out the job, he would give us N50,000 each. He did not give us any advance payment. After we had done the job, my sister became angry. She said that is not the kind of job I should have been involved in. He called my other elder brother and reported the matter to him.”

According to the PPRO, the former chairman of the village council and three other suspects are on the run, adding that the identity of the murdered pregnant woman is still unknown.

“We want people to know that the Nigeria Police have an unidentified person because the particulars of this woman are unknown. She was pregnant and had already been murdered”, she added.