A 35-year-old man, Mr. Uwem Job, yesterday [Apr. 16], beheaded two of his cousins, Mr. Akaninyene Job, 45; and Ezekiel Job, 36. Two other cousins – Itoro Job and Ekemini Job – narrowly escaped death as Uwem’s machete missed their throats, but cut through their hands. They were said to have been taken to a hospital.
Eyewitnesses said the incident occurred around 8.10am in Ikot Nkim, Ibesikpo/Asutan LGA of Akwa Ibom State. Uwem fled after the incident and his whereabouts had not been known.
Akaninyene’s younger brother, Mr. Ekemini Job, told PUNCH that at about 8.10am, Uwem came to their house and told Akaninyene to come with him, saying that he had something to show him.
He stated that as Akaninyene opened the curtain to see what Uwem had for him, he (Uwem) hit Akaninyene on the neck with a machete and severed his head from the body.
Ekemini said: Uwem came to our house around 8am and asked Akaninyene to open the door and collect something he brought for him. Uwem had a 25-litre keg of fuel in his hand and had hid a machete that he brought with him.
People who saw Uwem thought the keg contained palm wine. As my brother opened the curtain to see Uwem, he quickly brought out his machete and severed Akaninyene’s head from his body.
An elder sister to Akaninyene, Mrs. Christian Ekong, said they were at the backyard when the shouts from Ekemini aroused their attention. Ekong said: Ekemini saw Uwem killing Akaninyene and raised the alarm. As we rushed to the scene of the killing, I saw Uwem spilling the fuel on the flour. He then struck a match.
I raised the alarm, alerting everybody in the house to run. If not for the quick intervention of the youth of the area, the entire house would have been burnt down.
Ezekiel was said to have been killed few minutes after Akaninyene had been beheaded. The distance between where Akaninyene lived and that of Ezekiel was said to be about 20 metres.
An eyewitness, Okon Eyo, told PUNCH that Ezekiel was just waking up when Uwem called at his home and beheaded him. He said: We heard shouts from Akaninyene compound, but we did not know what had happened. The next moment, we saw Uwem go straight into Ezekiel room, which was next to his (Uwem) and severe Ezekiel’s head.
Before we knew what had happened, Uwem had fled. We will apprehend him. We believe he is hiding around this area.
When PUNCH correspondent visited the area, both bodies were laid in front of their houses. Akaninyene’s younger sister, Mrs. Comfort Okon, told PUNCH that the killer of her brother and Ezekiel came back from Lagos about two weeks ago. Bodies of the deceased, Akaninyene and Ezekiel, were later taken to the mortuary in a police van.
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