A
36-year-old lawyer, Abasiesebanga Ikoiwak, and five others have been arraigned
by
the police for allegedly killing her 41-year-old husband, Barrister Godwin
Ikoiwak. The incident reportedly occurred a few days after the deceased had a
phone conversation with his friend and former classmate, Barrister Sunny
Anyanwu, where he complained about having issues with his wife over infidelity.
Anyanwu
narrated before the Uyo High Court how the deceased died. He said that
Barrister Godwin Ikoiwak reported the matter of his wife’s infidelity to her
family, and they invited him to a meeting in their family compound in Nung Udoe
Itak, Ikono Local Government Area. Unfortunately, he did not return home alive.
Anyanwu
further revealed that the deceased husband told him that his wife was having
sexual relations with her former boss, a legal practitioner, Barrister C.I.
Odoh. He also disclosed that the late Barrister had confided in him that his
wife had stayed with a Catholic priest, Rev. Father Maurice Mbeke, as a house
help, and the Catholic priest had impregnated her. They had a child who is now
19 years old, and the child is named after her maternal grandfather.
According to
Anyanwu, the late Barrister did not know that the boy who had been living with
him in his house for years was his wife’s son. This was because his wife had
told him that the child was her younger brother. He also revealed that each
time his wife said she was pregnant, he did not set his eyes on her until after
the delivery of the baby when she would present the child to him and say,
“this is your child.”
The
prosecution team led by the Director of Public Prosecutions, Akwa Ibom State,
Barr. Joseph Umoren, tendered audio recordings that were played in the open
court. Until his death, Barrister Ikoiwak was a state counsel with the Akwa
Ibom State Ministry of Justice. The case is ongoing.
