HELEN UKPABIO LOSES FOUR SIBLINGS IN ONE WEEK!

Corpses of the victims

Helen Ukpabio

 These are really, really trying times for Nigeria’s most successful female preacher, Lady Apostle Helen Ukpabio. Four of her siblings – same father and same mother – just died and she is accusing The Nigerian Police and State Security Service (SSS) of being responsible.

The three brothers (Charles, Emmanuel and Joseph Akpabio) were allegedly shot before their aged mother (Mrs. Etim Ukpabio) and their younger sister, Elizabeth, upon hearing the sad news, slipped into coma and never recovered. She too has also died. Charles, Emmanuel and Joseph lost their lives on Sunday, March 25, 2012 in their village, Mbente, Ini local government area of Akwa Ibom State.

The journey that took them to their untimely graves began on Saturday, March 24, 2012 when three white men visited their village in the company of one of their friends, Benjamin Christopher Akpan Otu, from nearby Ifa Village. Being youth leaders in Mbente, the whitemen and Benjamin allegedly came with a drink to solicit their support concerning a dam that is to be constructed in the area.

Unknown to the three brothers, they were in the bad book of the SSS and Police who only used their friend to entrap them. After the first meeting, another one was fixed. But this time in Ikot Ekpene, which is about an hour drive. At Ikot Ekpene, the rhythm, however, changed as the two security agencies, with the brothers in their custody, accused them of armed robbery and kidnapping.

The team was allegedly led by one Noel Nduka. Thereafter, they were handcuffed, including Benjamin Christopher Out, who was also at the meeting, but was later released. They were allegedly first cripped with gun shots. And as they wailed and queried what they had done to deserve what they were doing to them, they were driven to the village. Now in their father’s compound, their mother immediately took to crying upon seeing her sons’ condition – in their broken state and with broken legs.

They allegedly dragged them down and beside a nearby plantain tree finished all of them, with their mother and some family members weeping, wailing and watching. We were told that the security team left with their corpses afterwards. And since then, the family of the three brothers has been crying themselves hoarse, wanting to know what exactly their sons did as well as why they were not charged to any court to defend themselves before judgment was pronounced and they were immediately executed.

They are also alleging that their lives, and that of the other members of the family are not safe, the reason being that they still can’t decipher why three of their children would be wasted in such a callous way and in one day. Their daughter, Lady Apostle Helen Ukpabio, founder, Liberty Gospel Church, with over 250 branches scattered all over the world, had this to say when we contacted her on Thursday, April 26, 2012: “I have never seen anything like that in my life before. Four corpses, from one family. Ah! Even if they had something against them, they should have taken them to court and not waste them like that”.

On the family’s next line of action, she said: “We will not follow them illegally. We will follow them legally. And that is why we are crying out, begging all conscionable people all over the world to hear us and ensure that justice is done on this issue”.

We also got through to Mr. Noel Nduka on the phone at exactly 2.11pm on Friday, April 27, and he said that as a civil servant he’s not permitted to talk to the press. The gruesome  murder of the three brothers, meanwhile, is now being discussed all over the world. Especially after the family created a special blog for them.Until their death, Charles worked as a sailor; Emmanuel – businessman and Joseph – farmer.