Uduak Frank Akpan
Nigerians have taken to social media to express their anger and disbelief at the appearance of a murder and rape suspect, Uduak Frank Akpan, who was clad in a close-fitting orange t-shirt with the inscription, ‘The Mudder Squad’ conspicuously emblazoned on the top in black print.
It was earlier reported that the Akwa Ibom State Police Command, on Friday, paraded 20-year-old Akpan who confessed to raping and killing a job seeker, Inibong Umoren, last month in the South-South state.
Akpan, according to the state Police Commissioner, Andrew Amiengheme, was paraded today to dispel the rumour that he committed suicide in police custody.
While fielding questions from journalists, Akpan said the late job seeker, who was buried today, consented to have sex with him but later became furious which made him hit her on the head with a stabiliser.
“I told her that before she leaves that I’ll like to have sex with her, and she agreed. But she gave a condition that I should use a condom, which I did. When I removed the condom, she became furious, so she took the nearby stabiliser to hit me on my head. Then she bit my left ring finger.
“In a bid to stop her, I used the stabiliser to hit her and she fell and started bleeding, thereafter she died,” the suspect said.
Many Nigerians have since taken to social media to strongly express doubt over the suspect’s claim that the late job seeker consented to have sex with him.
They also expressed concerns at how unruffled the suspect looked despite being in police custody for over two weeks.
Award-winning investigative journalist, ‘Fisayo Soyombo, tweeted, “Iniubon Umoren’s killer Uduak Akpan looked too fresh and unruffled for someone who’s been in police detention for close to two weeks.
“After my five nights at Pedro Police Station during my undercover investigation, I didn’t look that ‘cool’. Not me, not anyone else in the cell. To get just a bath was war!”
“I imagine Uduak Akpan must’ve been trying to send a cryptic message by wearing that ‘The Mudder Squad’ T-Shirt to the press briefing. Could that be a veiled threat to name the squad members if he’s not bailed out of jail without further delay? Hopefully, we get to know someday,” he added.
A tweep, @eokugbo, also wrote, “How can you parade the murderer of Iniubong Umoren, sitting on a chair, looking fly, making faces, with a t-shirt, inscribed, ‘The Mudder Squad’? What in God’s name is this brazen mockery of both his many victims and every Nigerian watching this unfold? Are you people ok at all?”
Another tweep, @_OfficialJosef, wrote, “This guy been feeding well, had a clean bathe this morning, creamed and combed his hair, took out a bad ass t-shirt, ‘The Mudder Squad’ to seat on a plastic chair at a press conference. Nigeria police I know make suspects seat on the ground… What in God’s name is going on here?”
Also, @KvngKortez_ tweeted, “You wore a t-shirt with an inscription reading ‘The Mudder Squad’ to a press briefing where you are being presented as the murderer of the late young lady. What kind of audacity is that?”
“The Mudder Squad is ‘Murder Squad’ encoded, and that phrase was chosen deliberately. For those that could see, it’s a message that we are dealing with a gang of murderers here. Uduak has more to unveil than the murder of Iniobong Umoren,” stated @ayemojubar.
Meanwhile, the police have said that the suspect would be charged to court upon completion of investigation
