Uko Okon
Ms. Ifiok Umoren, the eldest sister of the late Iniubong Umoren, has debunked the allegation that her sister’s organs were harvested.
This comes on the heels of the organ harvesting allegation made by Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, representing Kogi West, in an audio/video chat with US-based activist and media personality Dr. Sandra Duru, against Nigerian Senate President Senator Godswill Akpabio, that he allegedly used the organs to save his ailing wife, Unoma Ekaette.
Recall that Iniubong Umorem, a 26-year-old philosophy graduate of the University of Uyo, who was seeking a job while waiting for her NYSC call-up, was lured and killed by UduakAbasi Akpan on April 29, 2021, at his father’s residence in Uruan LGA, under the pretext of offering her a job.
Akpan was later arraigned before Akwa Ibom State High Court, Uyo on charge no: HU/87C/2021 and found guilty of rape and murder, and sentenced on 4 August, 2022.
The deceased’s sister, Umoren, while addressing a press conference in Uyo on Saturday, insisted that no part of her late sister was missing from the time of the autopsy to the time of burial.
“How can someone tell me, indeed, the world that my sister’s organs were harvested? Did the person who accused another went and harvested my sister’s organs after burial?”
Narrating the incident, Umoren said her sister had mentioned a job interview she was attending, but when she (deceased) failed to return home, she conducted a search and eventually discovered that she had been killed.
”On May 1, 2021, the police called and asked me to send my sister’s pictures to them. On May 2, 2021, the police asked me to come to morgue for identification of my sister. On arrival, I saw her corpse and confirmed that she was the one.
”Before burial, the police took the corpse to University of Uyo Teaching Hospital, Uyo for autopsy. Two policemen and I were in the room and witnessed the autopsy. All organs in her body were complete. On May 18, 2021, she was buried.
“Throughout the arrest, prosecution and conviction of the murderer, UduakAbasi never mentioned Akpabio. How can a Senator who was not a witness accused Akpabio as the person who harvested the organs of my sister?
“I keep wondering how someone would wake up one day and start launching unsubstantiated allegations for whatever reasons base known to her against another and then tie it down to the death of my sister, Umoren added.
On his part, Mr. Friday Itim the state Director of Public Prosecution, who was a prosecuting counsel in the murder case said UduakAbasi singlehandedly killed Iniubong by hitting her head with a stabilizer over her refusal to allow him had raw sex.
“The murderer who preyed on Iniubong to offer a job later demanded to have raw sex with her, though she wanted him to use condom.
”The incident led to struggle and argument, and subsequent assault in which UduakAbasi hut her head and abdomen with a stabilizer and she died.
”After killing her, the murderer dragged her alone into a shallow grave he dug, buried her and used leaves to cover the grave.
”Before she died, she had called and informed her sister of her whereabouts and the interviewer’s phone number in case of any happening.
”The murderer who fled to Calabar was tricked to return home on the pretext that his aged father, a retired Federal Government staffer, was eventually arrested.
‘‘When he returned, the then Uruan Local Government Chairman who is their relation summoned UduakAbasi and found out from him that he had killed the girl. The Chairman had no other option than to surrender the murderer to the Divisional Police Officer in the area for arrest, investigation, detention and arraignment in court.”
”The prosecution called 10 witnesses. At the end, UduakAbasi was convicted. It is, therefore, outrageous and a lie for anybody to conclude that Senator Godswill Akpabio had a hand in the murder in the state talk less of harvesting her organs.
“I want to call on appropriate authority in the country to prosecute Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan for raising false alarm and information.”
Similarly, Adula Samson who defended UduakAbasi also countered Natasha’s allegation of organs harvesting, and dismissed it as a lie, saying that the person who alleged should be held responsible for the offence.
“Throughout the prosecution and conviction, the prosecutor and defender never mentioned organ harvesting against Akpabio. The prosecution file is in public domain for anybody to assess. We should not assume the issue,” he noted.
The Lawyer stated that a pathologist carried out autopsy of the deceased and the certified true copy of the report is in public domain, describing the allegation of organs harvesting as false and baseless.
