October 07, (THEWILL) – Palpable tension and fear yesterday griped inhabitants of Usung Atiat village, in Ukanafun local government area of Akwa Ibom state as the village council Chairman Chief Aniedu Okon allegedly exhumed the corpse of late Aniefiok Effiong; 61 for failing to pay fine for an alleged offence committed against the council, while he was alive.
THEWILL findings revealed that the village council of Usung Atiat community has a laid down rule of collecting edible items before any dead in state of outstanding fine for offense committed, could be buried.
Such items include: She goat,tubers of yam, a jar of palm wine , 1 crate of soft drinks, one Carton of beer , one bottle of local gin, a bottle of Lords Dry gin , garden egg, one bottle of snuff, alligator pepper and other condiments including a bundle of firewood to cook .
It was also gathered that prior to the burial date , the village chairman had sent a letter to the bereaved family warning them of consequences for failing to provide above items before the body of the deceased is committed to the earth.
An eyewitness Mr Mfon Udo disclosed that the items needed by the village was a penalty on the deceased for an alleged offence he committed in the community when he was alive .
The letter reads in parts:
“Failure to bring the items for committing an abnormal Acts , burial should not be conducted in the village.”
A family source told THEWILL Correspondent that the family had ignored the threat letter and continued with the funeral as they did not understand the ‘abnormal act’ contained in the letter.
He said after the burial,the village chairman stormed the deceased compound with local thugs firing gunshots into the air and exhumed the corpse, dumped it along the village footpath where it stings and decomposed .
Continuing, he said such an act was outright desecration of the dead which would require another round of rituals to rebury and appease the gods to avert calamity in the family and entire community .
However, the son of the deceased, Mr Uduak Effiong Bassey has cried for justice demanding the village council to re bury his late father or face the law for desecrating the dead.
In a petition titled: ” A case of Desecration of Corpse and unlawful possession of firearms Perpetrated by the village Chairman – Aniedu Okon Thompson and four others , the deceased’s son urged the state government to intervene and save the community from impending doom and health hazard as the corpse was decomposing in the village .
The petition dated 27th September 2021 signed by deceased’s son and made available to THEWILL in uyo on Thursday stated that urgent steps should be taken to avoid epidemic in the community while the culprits should brought to book
Bassey explained all the perpetrators of the crime identified as they were residents in the village.
“Akifa together with me were able to identify the above persons desecrating the remains of late Aniefiok Bassey, firing gunshots into the air and eventually dumped the corpse by a bush track and covered the grave.”
In a telephone interview, the police Public Relations Officer for Akwa Ibom SP Odiko Mcdon said the command had not received the petition and could not act on the matter.
” The command has not received any petition or official report on the incident. I can not comment on what I am not briefed on. But once we receive such complaints, we would act accordingly.” MacDon stated.
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