From Isaac Job, Uyo
An angry mob at Itam Timber Market, Uyo, intercepted a father who packaged the body of his dead son in a carton for disposal at a waste dump site around the market within the metropolis.
Daily Sun gathered that the father was monitored by some inquisitive persons who suspected the content of the carton he carried on his head with some rag clothes moving towards the waste bin site across the timber market.
An eyewitness who pleaded anonymity said the man was accompanied by his two male children who were minors before he was accosted by the mob within the market area.
Narrating the incident to our reporter, he said some angry market men caught the man and brought down the suspected carton from his head before they discovered that it contained the lifeless body of his child, naked but neatly wrapped with torn clothes.
In a video now trending in social media, the man was seen engaging those who caught him in a fight as they forced him to remove the corpse from the carton, which he obliged.
In the video, the corpse of the fair-skinned child was seen dangling in his left hand while he used the right to return blows to his accusers, who claimed he was a ritualist before the police intervened at the scene.
However, a statement issued by Akwa Ibom State Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO) ASP Timfon John and made available to journalists in Uyo on Tuesday night identified the suspected father as an indigene of Anambra State.
The statement, which was posted on the Akwa Ibom State Police Public Relations Officer’s (PPRO) WhatsApp group with journalists, reads in parts:
“Good evening, my dear friends.
“On the Itam Incident, what happened is that a father of three boys was intercepted by the police at Itam with a Dead boy and two living boys. (sic)
“Upon investigation, the man told the police that all three boys are his. (sic). And that in his tradition, deceased male (sic) are not buried outside their community. So he was taking the dead son to the village in Anambra State to be buried. (sic)
“The Police have since deposited the Dead boy in the mortuary, and investigations are ongoing. Thank you”
The police therefore exonerated the father from the murder allegation by the angry mob, adding that an investigation was ongoing to establish facts of the matter.
“Please note that the said man didn’t kill the boy,” she said.