Bride And Groom Brutalise Friend Accused Of Stealing The Money Sprayed At Their Wedding

An Akwa-Ibom state woman identified as Iniubong Essien, has revealed how her friend, Aniedi, and her husband, Uduak Godwin Nseobot aka King Pele, a Councillor representing Southern II, Ward 6 in Ibiono Ibom LGA, abducted, stripped her naked and brutalized her.

According to a report by Vanguard, Iniubong was accused of stealing some of the money sprayed on the couple during their wedding which took place on November 3, 2018 in Usenten, Akwa Ibom State.

The victim alleged that she was taken to the community square at the prompting of the Council lawmaker, stripped naked, tied a rope around her waist, battered her with sticks and stones and paraded round the village.

“They broke bottles on my head and assaulted me. And my nude pictures were taken by the Councillor and the people and shared on social media,” she said.

Already, Iniubong’s lawyers, Bailey Chambers, have raised a strongly worded petition to the Deputy Commissioner of Police, Akwa Ibom State CID, alleging assault, battery and threat to life as well as attempted murder of their client.

Iniubong said: “Being a friend of the bride, I helped her to sell the uniforms (aso-ebi) to our fellow friends and I attended the wedding and assisted in serving food while one of the friends of the bride, Gloria, assisted the couple in picking money sprayed on them during the nuptial dance. The service point was at the back of the hall.

And I left in the company of other friends when they were giving the vote of thanks, because I had another traditional wedding to attend in the same neighborhood. ‘’The day after the event, I was invited to the couple’s home at Ewet Housing Estate, Uyo, and I informed them that I would not be able to visit them and jokingly told them to continue to enjoy their honeymoon and that I would see them later and render account of the wedding uniforms I handled for them.

I was still resting on the bed when Aniedi came and knocked and I opened the door for her and she came in and thanked me for my support during their wedding. She then invited me to come and meet the husband who was in the car with Gloria and one other person. ‘’When I got to the car, they asked me to enter and I said it was an opportunity for me to go the ATM so that I could withdraw the money and give to them, which I did. But instead of taking me back to my house, Pele (friend’s husband) took me to the village and he started calling people and, immediately, a crowd gathered and they started asking me to confess where I kept the money.

And I asked them which money? At this point he (Nseobot) was grinding charcoal to rub on my body and he ordered his boys to strip me. And his PA told him, ‘Where is your gun? Let us finish this woman, whether she has not heard about Pele in Eket’. The PA added that nothing would happen if l was killed as his boss had the backing of prominent politicians in the state. I kept pleading with them all this while to let me go, but they refused.

‘He (Councillor) told me that he would kill, bury me and nobody would know. And I told them that if they killed me, the truth would one day come out and my innocent blood would not dry in Ibiono. They broke bottles on my head and assaulted me. And my nude pictures were taken by the Councillor and the people and shared on social media”.

Iniubong said after much pleading, they agreed to take her to a herbalist for what she described as ‘’native finding”, and the villagers boarded four mini buses and other cars, and, as they were going, a friend of the Councillor called and warned him of the dire consequence of his unholy acts and he immediately disengaged the villagers and made a detour to Uyo to the Police Headquarters at Ikot Akpan Abia and handed her over to the police.

Akwa Ibom State Branch of the International Federation of Women Lawyers also stepped into the matter. The body equally petitioned the state Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice and the police. They maintained that the association would follow the case to its logical conclusion with a view to making sure that justice was done or seen to be done in the matter.

The victim has, however, approached the court in a bid to get justice. She is demanding N10 million as damages for the torture, assault, and defamation of character.