Suspected killer of Addax employee arrested with skulls

The Special Anti-Robbery Squad of the Akwa Ibom State Police Command, has arrested one Godwin Okon, 35, from Effiat community in Mbo Local Government Area for allegedly possessing two skulls and three locally-made guns.

The police also linked the murder of Addax Petroleum staff to Okon and his group, Daybam Confraternity, adding that they had been investigating the case since 2006 when the man was murdered.

The Commissioner of Police in the state, Mr. Murtala Mani, said on Tuesday that Okon had confessed to the 2006 murder of Addax employee, who died in their custody after he was kidnapped by the group.

According to him, Okon revealed that he is a big boy and head of the confraternity. He stated that the police, who acted on intelligence report, conducted a search on Okon’s premises and discovered two human skulls including three locally-made firearms.

Mani, who said this through the Police Public Relations Officer in the state, Cordelia Nwawe, said the suspect admitted before the police that the two skulls in his possession were that of a man and a woman, who died in their custody.

The commissioner stated that Okon had swindled people of large sums of money, adding that it was the investigation in the acts that led to the discovery of other incriminating acts.

“The police have since 2006 been investigating a case of a man who died from Addax Petroleum field in Effiat, Mbo LGA. We had been looking for the young men who actually kidnapped that man, fortunately for us we have been able to find a particular man whose name is Godwin Okon from Effiat.

“During interrogation, the suspect confessed to being the head of Daybam Confraternity in Akwa Ibom State and further confessed to the kidnapping of Addax staff in 2006 that died in their custody, after collecting the sum of N2m from the company.

“During a search in his house, two human skulls were recovered, one of which he confessed killing the victim one Esther Effiong ‘f’ at Urueoffong Uruko LGA. Also recovered were three locally-made pistols,” he said.

He said that the group headquarters was in Oron, but they operated from Effiat, a riverine community in Mbo LGA.

“As for the Addax staff, we were not the ones that caused his death; it was the community thing. We were here in Uyo to hold a meeting with the company, where the DSS said we were too few to take major decisions that would affect the entire community.

“And when we got back home, we learnt that the man had died of thirst. His corpse was taken away by the director of the DSS and the Eastern Naval Command from Calabar.”