The family of the slain University of Uyo graduate, Miss Inioubong Umoren has refuted the allegation that their daughter’s organs were harvested by the Senate President Godswill Akpabio.
The deceased family was reacting to a viral online video which Dr. Sandra Duru a.k.a Prof Mgbeke claimed that Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan (Kogi Central) told her that Akpabio killed and harvested the organs of late Miss Umoren.
Recall that the deceased was killed on the 29th of April by one Uduak Frank Akpan who tricked her with a job offer only to rape and kill her in the end at his family compound in Uruan local government area of Akwa Ibom state.
Akpan has since been convicted and sentenced to death. His death sentence is yet to be implemented and is still at a correctional facility in Akwa Ibom state.
Angered by the Prof Mgbeke’s online video, the elder sister of the deceased, Ifiok Ephraim Umoren at the weekend during a press conference said no part of her sister’s body was missing when her remains were buried on the 18th of May 2022.
Umoren said that Akpabio was not responsible for her sister’s death, adding that a proper autopsy was conducted which proved that her sister was hit on the head and abdomen by Akpan leading to her death.
“There is an autopsy result to prove the cause of death and that no organ of my sister was missing as at when I buried her on the 18th of May, 2022.
“I want to beg Nigerians to help me bring down this person (Senator Natasha) that has brought public ridicule and traumatic remembrance to my family. I consider this as a horrendous affront to the dignity of my late sister.
“The Senate President did not, I repeat, did not send anybody to kill my sister. My sister died in the course of going to seek for a job. Unfortunately the guy wanted to rape her, after raping her he used stabilizer to hit my sister and she dropped dead.
“None of her organs was missing. I don’t know why someone will want to dent the image of Senator Godswill Akpabio who has put in so much to build his reputation just to satisfy whatever thing she wants to satisfy.
“When I saw the news flying that my sister’s organs were harvested and used for someone else, I felt so bad. I now asked myself, if a common person cannot die and rest in peace in this country.
“Must someone wake up one day and come up with false allegations for whatever reason best to her and tie it down to the death of my sister.
“I am putting it up here to say that I am not happy about what is happening. She made this allegation without evidence that my sister’s organs were truly harvested. There was nothing of such. We are considering legal action against Senator Natasha”, she said.
Lead counsel to the convict(Akpan), Adula Samson at the press conference also dissociated Akpabio from the death of late Inioubong Umoren.
Samson, who is the State Coordinator of the Legal Aid Council, said that throughout the proceedings of the matter in court, Akpabio’s name was not mentioned anywhere and anytime in the matter.
He said, “I had the opportunity of defending the convict in this case, Uduak Frank Akpan it is very unfortunate that we are gathered once again for this same purpose. People should be held responsible for making spurious and baseless allegations.
“As one of the prosecuting counsels in that case has said, the proceedings is in the public domain. If you get the certified true copy of the proceedings and the judgement from the beginning of plea taking to when judgement was delivered there is no where you going to find in any part of the proceedings that the convict was involved in organ harvesting let alone linking it with the Senate President”.
Speaking earlier, the Director of Public Prosecution in Akwa Ibom state, Friday Itim said the records regarding the matter were still intact for all Nigerians to see.
