The family of a lady, Gloria Akpan, has accused their
daughter’s lover, Ita Eyo, of killing her in his residence in Ayobo area of
Ogun State.
Gloria and Eyo both from Akwa Ibom
State had been cohabiting since March 2012 before the sad incident occurred on
November 3. The lady was six-month pregnant before she died.
A family source, who craved
anonymity, said when he spoke to Gloria on Friday, a day before her death, she
told him that all was well, adding that it was shocking to learn that she had
died the next day.
The source said, “Without seeing any
member of the family, that same Saturday, they hurriedly buried her.
“This is suspicious. The information
we got was that she was strangled as she bled through her nose and mouth.”
Father of the deceased, Mr. Edet
Akpan, 66, a retiree of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, corroborated
the family source, insisting that his child was murdered.
Akpan told PUNCH Metro amid sobs, that Eyo, had in
March this year asked for his daughter’s hand in marriage.
He said it was a transport operator,
simply called Akintunde that brought Eyo to their home at NDLEA Compound at the
Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Ikeja, Lagos.
Expectedly, Akpan said during the
meeting, he told Eyo to come with his people when they were ready.
Akpan said, “After that meeting, I
travelled to my country home in Akwa Ibom. Since I have retired, I have been
alternating between home and Lagos.
“While I was still in my hometown, my
wife, Gloria’s stepmother, phoned me. She said my daughter had moved out of the
house. I exclaimed, ‘move to where?’ She said she had gone to Eyo’s house.
“She also said it was Eyo’s friend,
Akintunde that came to take her to the place.
“The news jolted me and I had to rush
back to Lagos. When I came back, I set out to search for her whereabouts but my
effort was unsuccessful as I neither knew the address of Akintunde nor Eyo’s.”
He said he later got Akintunde on the
phone.
Akpan said when he called Akintunde,
Eyo and Gloria were with him.
He said, “When I got Akintunde on the
phone, he handed the phone over to Eyo. After quarrelling with Eyo, I asked him
to pass the phone to Gloria and he did.
“Gloria told me she was well and
assured me that she would come home soon. I even asked of my grandson whom she
took along with her and she said he was okay.”
Akpan lamented that instead of his
daughter coming back home, the news he got the following day was that she had
died.
He said, “On Saturday, Akintunde and
a woman, came to inform me that my daughter had died. I was confused. I took
them to my elder brother’s house. My elder brother asked them to deposit her
corpse in the mortuary for further action.
“The same day, I asked my son to go
to Eyo’s house. My son told me that they had buried my daughter. This was done
without the knowledge of any member of the family. We find the development
curious. This is somebody he was not married to. That is why we believe my daughter
was murdered for some sinister purposes.”
He said another reason he suspected
Eyo was culpable in his daughter’s death was the account of an eyewitness,
Gloria’s son, who was living with them.
Akpan said his grandson, who Gloria
had for another man, told him that on the fateful day, Eyo and his mother had a
disagreement resulting in Eyo pulling something out of the bed and hitting her
several times before she died.
He said he headed for a nearby police
station in Ikeja, Lagos where they detailed three policemen to arrest
Akintunde.
He said with the aid of the
policemen, Akintunde took them to Eyo’s house in Ayobo, Ogun State.
He said when they got to Ayobo, it
was discovered that that the part where Eyo lives is within the jurisdiction of
Ogun State Police Command.
From there, he went to Itele Police
Station in Ota, Ogun State where some policemen were detailed to arrest Eyo.
He said Eyo was currently being held
at Itele Police Station.
He appealed to the relevant
authorities to bring the killer of his daughter to justice.
A police source at Itele Police
Division said the Commissioner of Police, Ogun Command, had directed that the
matter be taken to the state Criminal Investigation Department.
The source, who did not want his name
mentioned, said the Divisional Crime Officer confirmed that the suspect was
still being detained.
However, he said the father of the
deceased had refused to show up, stressing that the suspect claimed he (Akpan) consented
to the burial of his daughter.
“The matter is a murder case; the
suspect is still being detained. The Commissioner of Police has directed that
the matter be taken to the SCID, Abeokuta,” the source said.