By CrossRiverWatch Admin
The family of late Monday Raphael Isek has alleged that one Mr. Ubi Ikpi Ofem killed their son in Cocoa Farm in Etung Local Government Area of Cross River State.
The deceased’s wife and a mother of three,Mrs. Christiana Monday Isek, appealed to the Inspector General of Police, IGP Kayode Egbetokun, and Wife of the Governor, Bishop Eyoanwan Otu, to arrest and prosecute the suspect – Ubi Ikpi whom she claimed killed her husband on September 26, 2024, inside a cocoa farm located at Block 2D/66 Ikom Cocoa Estate in the Cross River State Government-owned in Etung.
The young widow narrated to Converseer that she found out about her husband’s death when he failed to return from the farm at the usual time as expected. “My husband left the house on the 26th of September 2024, saying he was going to the farm with his father, only for him to be killed by Ubi and his boys, who took his corpse and deposited it in the mortuary without my knowledge,” she said.
The mother of three children said she found out when she called her husband’s line severally and a police officer from Ikom Area Command took the call and lied to her that her husband was arrested.
She averred that she reported to the Ikom Area Command, and she was instructed to check the notice board. She did, but her husband’s name was not there. She said she waited till nightfall and later left, following other officers’ effort to comb the cell for her husband.
Mrs. Christiana said she summoned courage and went to the Area Command with her in-laws the next day, September 27: “When we got there, I saw the policeman I was talking with on the phone with Ubi coming out from the same vehicle,” she said, adding that the officer brought out her husband’s bag which she identified.
“He started telling me that my husband is dead and that Ubi went and carried him from the farm and deposited his body in the mortuary, and that Ubi told him that his boys went to the farm to see my husband’s corpse,” she said.
Christiana, who then requested to see her husband’s corpse, said the police took her to the mortuary, “and they brought out the corpse; it was my husband.”
She said when they got back home, a Bishop from the Apostolic Church came and offered them N400,000 for them to bury the case by burying her husband. “When we came back from the mortuary after they had killed my husband, they sent one Bishop Collins Ogar, who came with four hundred thousand (400,000) Naira, to bribe us so that we would not take the matter to the Police State Command in Calabar, but we refused.
“They said we should use the money to bury my husband. They also said we should say it was my husband’s farm group whom they bought cocoa farms together under former Governor Ben Ayade’s government that killed him. I want the police to also ask Collins the reason why he brought that money to us to bury my husband if he doesn’t know anything concerning my husband’s death,” Mrs. Isek said.
She said when they reported the matter to the State Command, the Commissioner of Police, CP Gyogon Augustine Grimah, walked her out while trying to explain her ordeal. “Other Police officers from Ikom Area Command and Etung Division came, and as I was trying to explain, the Commissioner walked me out,” she said, adding that the Commissioner later called her inside and asked if her husband was sick but she said, “No.”
The widow is seeking justice for her late husband, saying, “My husband was killed, leaving behind three children and at this young age, I have become a widow.
“I am begging the wife of the Governor, Her Excellency, Bishop Eyoanwan Bassey Otu, to help me. I don’t know where to start with these little children; who will pay their school fees? Who will feed them? Should their future end just like that?
“I am also begging the IGP to help me unless he wants my husband’s death to be buried just like they’ve already buried the matter in the state. I only want justice for my husband who was gruesomely murdered. Let the person that killed my husband be brought to book.”
How Monday Raphael Isek Acquired The Farm And How He Was Allegedly Killed
On his part, Monday’s father, Mr. Rapheal Isek, who witnessed the alleged death of his son, said his son came to him one day in 2022 with documents, saying he had paid for a parcel of coca farm from former Governor Ayade’s administration.
Mr. Isek said his late son, who had already given him 2 hectares, asked him to follow him to the farm on that said day, and he agreed out of fear following what Ubi had earlier done to him and his first son, Daniel. “As we got to the farm, Monday, who is my second son, started plucking the cocoa while I was gathering them. Ubi and his boys showed up and started manhandling my son, who had already paid for the farmland.
“They tied him up with robes and started beating him up with machetes. They wanted to come for me, I ran and hid myself where they couldn’t find me,” Mr. Irek said.
According to him, while he was hiding, “I saw Ubi with a vehicle; he carried my son, who was looking lifeless at that point and put him in the vehicle and took him to the mortuary. He never brought in the police, he did it by himself.”
Continuing the ordeal, Isek added: “After he had deposited the body of my son in the mortuary, that’s when he came and carried the police and started boasting that there’s nothing we can do as he controls the police.”
The elderly man also called on the IGP to take over the matter and bring the killers of his son to book: “My late son has a wife and three children, and I don’t have anything. I am helpless. My grandchildren are asking for their father, his wife is now without a husband and his mother has been crying herself out.
“I am calling on the Inspector General of Police to come to our aid as the Commissioner of Police has failed us. My son is still at the mortuary while Ubi is walking scot-free.”
He said before then, Ubi had attempted to kill him and his first son, Daniel, in the same farmland.
Ubi Ikpi Alleged First Attempt
Daniel Raphael Isek, older brother to late Monday, said Ubi attempted to kill him and his father. “On the 13th of August 2024, my father asked me to accompany him to the farm my late brother Monday bought from the government, under former Governor Ayade, at Camp 3,” he stated.
Daniel said while they were working, they saw Ubi and some people entering the farm, calling them thieves and asking them to raise their hands. “He [Ubi] asked if I was Monday, I told him Monday is my younger brother. He said we should thank our God that it is not Monday, he would have killed him. He told us to tell Monday that any day he sees him on the farm, he is going to kill him,” he explained.
He said Ubi and his boys continued to beat them, threatening to kill his father, and when he asked why, Ubi said he would cut his head with the machete he was holding. “Before I could realize it, he raised the machete to cut my neck; I swiftly used my left hand to block it; that’s how the machete cut my hand and split the veins near my wrist, and blood started gushing out,” he said.
Late Monday’s older brother said Ubi wanted to kill his father, who pleaded with him to allow him to prepare local medicine to stop the bleeding, stressing that, “It took the intervention of some farmers before Ubi allowed my father to give me first aid.”
He noted that Ubi took his motorcycle, adding that: “They took us and handed over to the army officers who took us to the Army Camp 3 around Etome Junction in Etung.”
Daniel’s father said while in the army camp, one of the officers asked them to pay N300,000. “I told him I don’t have any money, he said he’ll lock my son up in the cell, which he did while I sat at the counter.” He said it was another officer who came and asked for his son with the cut. “After telling him he has been locked up, he ordered for his release and then asked us to go.”
Daniel said after everything, they went and told his brother, who took them to the Etung Divisional Police in Efraya on August 14. “The officer who took our statement said he knows Ubi and that he’s an Elder at the Apostolic Church,” he added.
He alleged that the Police invited Ubi and asked if he was behind their torture, and Ubi accepted. He said the police said they were going to detain Ubi but they never did. “They wrote a doctor’s report for us to go to Holy Family Hospital to treat ourselves and report back to the station on a fixed date,” he maintained.
He said each time they reported to the station, Ubi wouldn’t turn up until the third day, after which the Divisional Police Office (DPO) called him on the phone. “When Ubi came, the DPO asked him of the boys he used to manhandle us; he said he doesn’t know their whereabouts and that he hired them for a job,” he stated.
Daniel said after Ubi pleaded with the DPO to give him time to fetch the boys, he pleaded for them to settle the matter and not take it further. “After meeting with my father, my father then went and pleaded with the DPO that he doesn’t want any trouble and that he has decided to give peace a chance,” he narrated.
He said Ubi then fixed a date for them to meet at Ikom by 1:pm, only for him to get to the place to see some police officers who said they were sent from the Ikom Area Command to come and arrest him on the petition by Ubi. “I then called the Investigative Police Officer (IPO) at Etung Division and reported that the person who wanted to kill me and pleaded for us to settle out of station had called for another police to arrest me; that was on the 17th of August.”
Daniel said his young brother, who is now late, called on September 26, requesting him to join him on the farm, “I told him I was at Isobendeghe, and when I came back, he had already gone – only for him to be murdered in cold blood.
“I have pleaded with the Inspector General of Police to come and help us on the matter and bring justice to my later brother.”
Ubi Ikpi Ofem’s Response
When Converseer contacted Ubi on the phone on Friday, November 29, Ubi said he was innocent. “I am very, very innocent about that allegation – very, very innocent,” he said.
Ubi later called back and said he was driving, adding, “If you want to get more information about what I told you, you can book an interview with the Commissioner of Police; the matter is with the Commissioner of Police. You can book an interview to get more facts that I am innocent about that allegation.”
Ubi who called back for the second time, said, “I also want to refer you to Barr. Sunny Mgbe, he is my barrister, he will brief you more.”
When our Reporter contacted Barr. Mgbe on the same day on the phone, he said, “I am aware of the matter and I think it will be prejudicial to investigation for us to give you our own version of the story. Police are also on it; we were in an interview with the Commissioner of Police as stakeholders in the matter, the family represented by the counsel of Mba Ukweni Chambers.
“Suffice me to say, their report was made there, and the Commissioner of Police has asked that an in-depth investigation be made, so I’ll not comment beyond that. It’s a mere allegation that the police is investigating, let me not prejudice the investigation.”
Nigeria Police Response
When contacted on the phone on Saturday, November 30, SP Irene Ugbo, Police Public Relations Officer in the State, said she could not confirm whether the matter had been reported to the Commissioner of Police.
“If it’s a case that is already ongoing, I cannot confirm because I don’t know whether they have reported to the Commissioner of Police. I have to find out. I cannot confirm a story that I am not aware of. If it is a petition, if somebody has complained, investigation would be going on until otherwise.
“So, you have to wait for me to confirm if truly they have reported the case to the police, and investigation is ongoing,” Ugbo said, adding that she’ll furnish our Reporter with the information on Monday, December 2.
When contacted on December 2, Ugbo did not respond to her call on two different occasions.
Further efforts from Converseer to reach her on Tuesday, December 3, proved abortive as her phone line was not reachable.
Government Memo
There have been tussles regarding the government-owned cocoa farm as the current administration of Governor Bassey Otu reallocated some portions of the farm already allocated by former Governor Ayade before leaving office. The conflict that led to the alleged death of Monday, was as a result of that.
Two months after Otu assumed office, P. A. Bassey, Esq. Solicitor-General and Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Justice, sent a Memo with reference number “MOJ/SG/PS/VOL.I/197” to the Governor.
The memo signed on July 27, 2023, buttressed in the governor’s settlement of the cocoa farm tussle that has lasted for over a decade.
“Sir, following failure of CRSG to meet the demands by cocoa Landlord Communities in Etung LGA for payment of rents/royalties, the Landlords sued CRSG in Suit No: HE/16/2013 in 2013 (during the Imoke’s Administration). Amongst other reliefs sought, they asked for settlement of arrears of rent/royalties, upward review of rent, and rehabilitation of the cocoa Estate. Fortunately, parties agreed to amicably resolve the dispute and the result was a Consent Judgment,” the memo read in part.
It further stated that: “The Landlord Communities through their Solicitors, O. N. Agbore and Associates, mounted pressure on CRSG for enforcement of the Consent Judgments culminating in government securing a new lease for 6 years as specially approved by the then His Excellency the Governor, for the settlement of CRSG’s rents/royalties and other liabilities while at the same time generating revenue for the State.”
The memo added: “To firm the above, an Agreement dated 13th August 2021, Registered as No. 571 at Page 117 in Volume VI of the Agreements Registry of the Attorney-General Chambers was executed between CRSG and the Landlord Community.
“The Office of the Attorney-General drafted all relevant legal documents and letters in all these and provided necessary leadership in enforcing the two Consent Judgments. On instructions, the Attorney-General’s Chambers also crafted the Agreement mentioned in (6) above. Functionaries of Government that participated in these transactions include: His Excellency the immediate past Governor; His Excellency the immediate past Deputy Governor; the former Attorney-General; the Internal Revenue Service; Due Process and Price Intelligence Dept.; Office of the State Auditor-General; Ministry of Agriculture; and Office of the SA Cocoa Dev & Control. It was their concerted efforts that culminated in final placement of the proceeds of the 6 years New Lease on the Smartgov payment platform.”
The Solicitor-General then recommended that, “The actions of the previous Administration as they relate to the new 6-year Lease should be sustained as legitimate, and Your Excellency should continue with them.
“The two Consent Judgments, having been concluded, should not be disturbed. Legally speaking, they constitute authentic judgments of the court. They can only be enforced but not set aside more so not by an administrative process,” the recommendation read in part.
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