Wednesday, 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 in the area.
Eyewitnesses said the incident occurred
around 8.10am in Ikot Nkim, Ibesikpo/Asutan
Local Government Area, Akwa Ibom State.
It was learnt that Uwem fled after the
incident and his whereabouts had not been
known.
Akaninyene's younger brother, Mr. Ekemini
Job, told PUNCH Metro that around 8.10am,
Uwem came to their house and told
Akaninyene to come with him, saying that he
had something to show him (Akaninyene).
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.
"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," Ekong said.
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 our
correspondent 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 our correspondent visited the area,
both bodies were laid in front of their houses.
Akaninyene's younger sister, Mrs. Comfort
Okon, told our correspondent that the killer
of her brother and Ezekiel came back from
Lagos about two weeks ago.
"There had never been any quarrel in the
family. When my mother was buried on
February 22, all the family members,
including Uwem, were there. They were the
ones who perfected all the burial
arrangement, I don't know why this has
happened," she said.
Bodies of the deceased, Akaninyene and
Ezekiel, were later taken to the mortuary in a
police van.
Efforts to reach the state Police Public
Relations Officer, Mr. Etim Dickson, to
confirm the story failed as he did not answer
calls to his telephone or respond to text
messages sent to the phone.
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