Missing Widow: Family Accuses 2019 AKHA Hopeful Of Abduction... Blessing Mbakara Denies Allegation
By UbongAbasi Ise
Madam Ekaete Etete Uboh, a
widow from Ikot Esen Ubium in Nsit Ubium Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom
State, has not returned home since 23rd September, 2017, after she
was reportedly taken away from home by a woman political leader, Mrs. Blessing
Mbakara, to 30th Anniversary event in Uyo at the instance of the
former transition committee chairman of Nsit Ubium local government area, Mr.
Otobong Edemidiong.
In a press statement released
by Akwa Ibom State Human Rights Community, Madam Uboh was very sick at the time
but Mrs. Blessing Mbakara succeeded in luring her away with a branded wrapper
while assuring her that she was going to be empowered with cash.
According to the statement, “Mrs.
Blessing Mbakara is said to have gone to the house of Madam Ekaete Etete Uboh
in Ikot Esen Ubium in Nsit Ubium Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State. She
went there with a branded Wrapper, and persuaded the poor widow to join a
waiting bus to convey her and other women to Uyo, for a political programme.
Madam Uboh was very sick, and her children who were present, refused to let her
go with Mrs. Mbakara. It was at this point that Mrs. Mbakara informed the
children that it was the Local Government Council chairman that requested her
presence, so as to “empower” her with money. At this stage, the children were
persuaded, and they let her go with Mrs. Mbakara. Mrs. Mbakara held the hands
of the frail and sick widow, and guided her into the waiting bus. Sunday Etete
Uboh and Hannah Etete Uboh, were the children of Madam Etete Uboh who were
present on this fateful day.
“The
bus that conveyed the women including Madam Ekaete Etete Uboh to Uyo returned
around 8 pm, but Madam Uboh was not amongst those who came back with the bus.
When the curious children – Sunday and Hannah enquired from Mrs. Blessing
Mbakara about the whereabouts of their mother, she could not explain, but asked
them to wait till the following day. Hannah, insisted that her mother must be
produced since she was very sick by the time Mrs. Mbakara took her away earlier
that day. She was informed by Mrs. Mbakara that Mrs. Idaraesit Pius Ita was
last seen with Madam Uboh. By the time the said sister-in-law of Mrs. Mbakara
returned, she informed Hannah, Madam Uboh’s daughter that, they left Madam Uboh
in Uyo. No credible explanation was given. The children of this widow noticed
that something was actually wrong.”
The event took another twist
when Ezekiel Uboh, son of Madam Uboh, came back from his base, Calabar, to
demand from Mrs. Mbakara the whereabouts of her mother but only to land in
police net in Uyo.
According to the statement, “When
Ezekiel Etete Uboh, son of Madam Uboh arrived the village on the 26th of
September, 2017, he went straight to Mrs. Mbakara to demand for the whereabouts
of his mother. She requested that Ezekiel Uboh should calm down, that; he
should accompany her to Uyo, to bring back the mother.
“She rather took him to the
“C” Divisional Headquarters of the Nigeria Police in Uyo, where she alleged
that the missing woman is said to be with Ezekiel, the son in Calabar. When the
young man, shocked at the turn of events, sought to know why the police wanted
him to make statement that his missing mother is with him in Calabar, the
Divisional Police Officer (DPO) in charge of the “C” Division, slapped him, and
got him detained.
“By the time the DPO heard
that Mrs. Idaraesit Pius Ita was the person that was last seen with Madam Uboh,
he ordered her and the woman leader questioned and arrested. This same Mrs.
Mbakara is said to have given the sum of Ten Thousand Naira (N10,000) to the
DPO to release the two women.”
On a phone conversation with
our correspondent, Ezekiel Uboh confirmed the brief saying that he first
received the shocking news on 24th September through a phone conversation
with his sister, Hannah, while he was still at Calabar. His sister told him that their mother was
taken to Godswill Akpabio International Stadium the previous day by Mrs.
Blessing Mbakara who provided their mother with a wrapper with the faces of
Governor Udom Emmanuel and his wife, Martha, printed on it. He said that Mrs.
Mbakara is now denying ever going out with his mother.
Ezekiel said that one Mfon Philp
from Ikot Ekwere in Nsit Ubium said she had seen Madam Ekaete Uboh with Mrs.
Blessing Mbakara and Mrs. Idaraesit Pius Ita at Godswill Akpabio International
Stadium in Uyo.
When our correspondent also contacted
Mrs. Blessing Mbakara on phone, she denied taking Madam Uboh on 23rd
September to Uyo but said that she was at Uyo International Stadium on that day
to receive the Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, who was coming to attend
the event of Akwa Ibom State 30th Anniversary.
Mrs. Mbakara admitted that the
matter has been reported to the police.
Meanwhile, Akwa Ibom Human
Rights community says the children of the missing woman have been harassed by
forces that want to silence them.
The Rights group suspects the
incident may not be unconnected to the phenomenon during periods approaching
election, when the incidence of missing persons, ostensibly for ritual
purposes, becomes rampant, adding that “this particular case cannot be left
unattended to, or treated with levity.”
According to the group, “Let
Mrs. Blessing Mbakara, the women who went with her to Uyo in the bus on this
fateful day, including the Woman Leader, Mrs. Idaraesit Pius Ita, and the
former council chairman (Mr. Otobong Edemidiong) whom she alleged instructed
her to bring Madam Ekaete Etete Uboh for purposes of “empowerment”, be made to
produce this poor widow, alive; or be made to face the law.
“Mrs. Blessing Mbakara cannot
take away Madam Ekaete Etete Uboh, and when the children insisted on having
their mother back, she now turns around to victimize them.”
Source: The Sensor Newspaper
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