SACRILEGE!

Church Allegedly uses human body to lay foundation

By our Reporter

A dead body has been found in a four feet deep of the foundation building of the Church of Christ, 170 Ikot Ekpene Road, Uyo, the Akwa Ibom State Capital.

The body was exhumed and taken to the University of Uyo Teaching Hospital for autopsy by the Akwa Ibom State Command of the Nigerian Police Force.

The deceased, it was gathered, was one of the labourers hired by the Church to work at the new building site of the Church which is built side-by-side with the old building, which according to sources, was too small for the church use.

Sources told Century Newsfront that the deceased, 18, is a junior secondary school student of Aka Community Secondary School, Ikot Akpan Abia.

Narrating the story in Ibibio language to newsmen in Uyo, the elder brother to the deceased, Mr. Ukeme Asuquo Etim from Mbiokporo Nsit, Nist Ibom Local Government Area, who is of different fathers said, “I lived together with my late brother, Kingsley Effiong Sampson. My father died but the father of my late brother is alive. I am 20 years while my late brother is 18. it was on Tuesday, September 22, 2009 when we all went out to fend for ourselves, but when I came back in the evening, my late brother was not back, we were all thinking maybe he has visited his friend after he had closed from work because he worked as a labourer at Church of Christ, 170 Ikot Ekpene Road, Uyo. On Wednesday, we began to search for him till Thursday evening all to no avail. Fortunately for me, I met one boy riding on my brother’s bicycle, when I accosted him and asked, he said that he picked the bike from the Church being that he knew the owner, my brother, but did not know my brother’s whereabouts. We later moved inside the church premises only to see the clothes and shoes of my late brother but could not find him. When we approached the Church authority, they told us to report it to the Police Station in order to enable us search for him. The contractor by name, Mr. Godwin, who is also a member of the church, told us that all the people that worked there are members of the Church and that they don’t know such a person. I later took the picture of my late brother to Police Station around town but they all confirmed that they don’t have such person in their cells. I later went back to the Church with my mother and younger ones who were crying to the Pastor of the Church. The pastor, however, chased us out of the Church premises. I later forced myself into the Church compound and continued the search for my brother and nothing was found. We went round the foundations that were dug. Along the line, one of my uncles by name Mfon, joined us in the search, only to discover a place well covered with sand inside the foundation which was ready to be poured with concrete as the iron benders were busy working on it. When we dug the place, we perceived a very harsh odour and had to call the attention of the Pastor, who said that it was a dead toad. As we persevered in the digging, we later found a dead body inside the foundation. There we raised an alarm and one of the Church leaders, fair in complexion, called the police who came, picked up my mother and some members of the Church down to Station. Arrested persons were later released. On Monday September, 28, 2009 at about 9:00am or thereabout, we were alerted that the Police were there to exhume the body of my brother. We went there and the whole place was jam-packed with people but we, however, found our way into the church premises. Those who dug the place said that my brother was beaten on the face and that his face was swollen. They also confirmed that certain chemicals were poured on his body to make the body decomposed quickly. Maggot had begun eating up my brother’s body which had already started to decompose”.

The mother of the deceased, Mrs. Bassey Uduak Edem, who was flanked by other women, confirmed what her son said. She called on the government and the Police to investigate and unveil the cause of death of her son.

In his testimony, the boy who picked the bicycle, Saviour Edem Sunday, an indigene of Oku, Uyo, confirmed thus, “I worked there on Saturday with the deceased but from Monday to Wednesday I did not work there because the work was tedious and I had serious pains all over my body, I only reported there on Thursday.

Sources close to the church authority who pleaded anonymous indicate that the church which earlier denied not employing the services of the deceased suddenly declared that it was the foundation of the building that fell and kill the deceased while working.

A prominent member of the church, Obong Okon Mkpong while contacted by Century Newsfront spoke through his driver said that at the moment he was busy and that he cannot speak on behalf of the church.

Meanwhile, every effort to speak with the minister in charge of the church, Minister Uko proves abortive.

Police source through the Police Public Relations Officer, Mr. Gabriel Ngban says that the body of the deceased has been taken for autopsy, adding that the Police are carrying out investigations to ascertain the cause of the death.

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