Minister of Niger Delta affairs Godswill Akpabio has threatened to sue journalist David Hundeyin for linking them with the suspects named in the murder of an Akwa Ibom job seeker Iniobong Umoren.
Mr Hundeyin had published a report via NewsWire in which he claimed to have analysed the telephone calls of the prime suspect Frank Akpan.
He also said in the report that Mr. Akpan, 20, called several people after Umoren’s murder among whom was Kufre Effiong. He alleged that Effiong and Akpan “met physically at a certain 58G, Ewet Housing Estate in Uyo”.
“It has just come to my attention that Davok Suites, the hotel at the centre of the 58 Unit G/S.9, Unit G, Ewet Housing Estate nexus involving Kufre Effiong and Frank Uduak Akpan is owned by none other than Ekaette Akpabio, wife of Godswill Akpabio,” Hundeyin added in a tweet.
“In other words, this place where Frank Uduak Akpan, fresh from murdering Ini Umoren came to meet Kufre Effiong, belongs to the wife of Kufre’s boss and Federal Minister of Niger Delta Affairs Godswill Akpabio. So which politician has Kufre been ‘running errands’ for?”
But Akpabio, who is also a former governor of Akwa Ibom State, and his wife Ekaette in a letter dated May 12, 2021 said the building does not belong to them.
“We hasten to make a point that assuming (though without conceding) that Kufre Effiong is a staff of the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs and/or one of its contractors, Senator Akpabio does not know, has never met and has never had any contact whatsoever with him. Neither Sen Godswill Akpabio nor his wife, Mrs Ekaette Akpabio had anything whatsoever to do with the horrific death of Iniobong Umoren,” the letter read.
“Secondly, neither Davok Suites (which is a corpate entity) nor the land housing it belongs to Mrs Ekaete Akpabio.
“Indeed, a proper search at the Corporate Affairs Commission would have disclosed to you that Mrs Ekaete Akpabio is neither one of the Directors nor Shareholders of Davok Suites.”
The minister and his wife also demanded immediate retraction of the publication and public apology within two weeks else they would file a lawsuit.
