END OF ROAD: How Akwa Ibom Businessman Nsikak Akpan Tries to Buy Silence With Millions After R@ping Tenant’s One-Year-Old,

END OF ROAD: How Akwa Ibom Businessman Nsikak Akpan Tries to Buy Silence With Millions After R@ping Tenant’s One-Year-Old

Nsikak Akpan, a businessman in his 50s, attempted to bribe some community youths in Betem, Akwa Ibom, on Tuesday after it was discovered that he had raped his tenant’s one-year-old baby.

The press learnt that the community youths handed over Akpan, who is married with grown kids, to the police. The child’s mother had only recently moved into Akpan’s compound where the incident happened.

ThankGod Arong, the vice president of the Betem Youths Council and a member of the Betem Traditional Rulers Council, told our correspondent that the girl, who is only one year and seven months old, was playing with the culprit’s seven-year-old son inside their living room on the day of the incident.

“Then suddenly, the father told the son not to tell anybody what was about to happen and, if anybody asked him, he should say he (the boy) was the one who engaged the girl in that manner,” Arong said while speaking to the press on Thursday.

“After, he grabbed the baby and raped her to the point of ejaculating. When neighbours in the compound heard the shouts of the baby and tried to enter the house, the man had escaped to the bush and gone to his farm. This was around 2 pm on Tuesday.

“This man is married. His first wife divorced him, and we don’t know why. He remarried and has grown-up children. He deals in palm oil production and kernel buying in large quantities.”

The press gathered that, when it became obvious that the middle-aged man was the perpetrator, he offered to give the community youths N5 million in exchange for their silence. But they turned it down and handed him over to the state police command.

The vice president of the youth council also revealed that there were claims suggesting that Tuesday’s incident was not Akpan’s first time.

Arong told the press the Akpan was transferred to the Cross River State Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department (SCIID) on Wednesday.

“When the lady picked up the child, she went to a nearby pharmacy, where they found sperm on the child and blood. The child could not talk but was just bleeding furiously,” Arong narrated.

“Then they approached the man but he tried to deny it until the youths came to the bush, on his own farm, and he said he would pay. He said, even if it was N5 million, he would pay. But they refused. They now called me. That’s when they knew that the matter couldn’t die down. We learnt that he’s fond of doing that and that it was the fourth time.

“When they got him, he confessed. The son confirmed that it was the father, who did it. And the man also confessed and started pleading that he would pay. Obviously, he feels everything is about money.

“We have been on the matter and we are following it up. He’s in Calabar now. He was moved to the state CID in Calabar alongside the mother of the child on Wednesday.”

Arong also shared his concerns with the press regarding his perception of how the police are handling the matter.

He suggested the police may let the case slide.

“The man is ready to bribe, and I am suspecting that they are planning to Kangaroo (sic) the process,”

Timfon John, the police public relations officer in Akwa Ibom, could not be reached for comments on Thursday as her phone number was switched off. She was yet to respond to WhatsApp and SMS messages at press time.

SP Nelson Anejo Okpabi, the public relations officer for Zone Six Police Command, which is located in the south-south and comprises Akwa Ibom and Cross River states, told the press that the Akwa Ibom PPRO would have been the right person to comment, given that he was not aware of the case.

When our reporter told him that John could not be reached on the phone, Okpabi said, “State CID Calabar is [the] Cross River command. They also have a PRO who is a lady like you. But if the case has been brought to the zone, I will need to find out if they have arrived and which session before I can comment”.

He, however, asked for a name to enable him to check with the investigation units in the Zone.

Afterwards, The press called SP Irene Ugbo, the Cross River PPRO, for comments.

“There’s no case like that here, please,” Ugbo told the press on Thursday.

FIJ