The Department of State Security Service, SSS, may have taken over investigation into the case of the Akwa Ibom woman, Iniubong Umoren, who was raped and killed in April by a 20-year-old man, Uduak Akpan, who had lured her with a fake job offer.
26-year-old Umoren was buried in a shallow grave inside the suspect’s family house where she was brutally killed, in the outskirts of Uyo, the Akwa Ibom capital.
The crime attracted nationwide outrage. Nigerians have been putting pressure on the police to bring her killers to justice.
A former attorney general of Akwa Ibom State, Uwemedimo Nwoko, disclosed last week that the SSS has taken over the investigation from the police.
Mr Nwoko, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, is holding brief in the case for a socio-cultural group, Ati Annang, which promotes and protects the interest of the Annang, one of the ethnic nationalities in Akwa Ibom.
The late Miss Umoren was an Annang woman. She was an orphan.
She had just graduated from the Department of Philosophy, University of Uyo, and was hoping she could get a temporary job, make some decent money for herself ahead of the mandatory National Youth Service Corps.
And then her dream was suddenly cut short in the most brutal manner.
“Our steps so far have actually led to the matter being further investigated because we (Ati Annang) were not satisfied with the level of investigations that the police carried out, hence we demanded that the matter should be further investigated with all loose ends tight.
“The transfer of the suspect to the DSS is not a secretive thing, it is a public matter. They have taken custody of the suspect,” Mr Nwoko said.
What Mr Nwoko said about the SSS taking over the investigation was corroborated by an official of the Nigeria Correction Service in Uyo who informed PREMIUM TIMES, Friday, that the SSS about a week ago had taken the suspect, Mr Akpan, out from the Ikot Ekpene Correction Centre, along with two other suspects in the case.
The SSS, apparently conducting their own investigation into Miss Umoren’s killing, took the three suspects away for some days, the correctional officer said on Friday.
“They (the SSS) have just brought them (the suspects) back (to the correction centre) this evening,” he added.
Apart from Mr Akpan who has confessed to the rape and killing of Miss Umoren, another suspect in the case is his father. The other suspect is Emem Emmanuel who is believed to have been part of the plot to lure the victim with the fake job offer.
The police spokesperson in Akwa Ibom, Odiko MacDon said that the suspects were remanded in the correction centre, but he, however, denied that the case has been taken over by the SSS.
