More information has emerged about how an officer of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) Josephine Onche met her death in the hands of a man she was to get married to in a matter of weeks.
Recall that MSN reported that Onche was declared missing by her family after she failed to return from the market where she went to purchase part of the things needed for her wedding.
About 18 months later, her remains were found on May 27, 2021 in a shallow grave near Otukpo, Obi Local Government Area of Benue State. Read the report here.
The fiancé and a native doctor were arrested by the police after a tip-off by a commercial motorcyclist.
The native doctor has now given an account of how the NSCDC woman was killed.
According to The Punch, Rafiu Afolabi, said Christopher Akpan, the fiancé of the officer allegedly killed her for money ritual.
Afolabi, a 67-year-old man from Saki, Oyo State, said after killing Onche, Akpan offered him N5m to silence him but said he was only given N50,000.
Afolabi narrated the story after operatives of the Intelligence Response Team of the Nigeria Police Force recently arrested him and Akpan in connection with the murder.
The police said it was a case of conspiracy and abduction, stating that investigations revealed that Onche’s last communication took place in Afolabi’s house in Adum, Obi Local Government Area of Benue.
The native doctor relocated to his hometown in Oyo State a few days after Onche went missing.
Afolabi said he met Akpan when he went to Onche’s house sometime in 2019 to give her some concoctions to avoid late pregnancy after her marriage to Akpan.
The native doctor said the deceased first visited him in 2019 to get concoctions that would make her business prosperous.
Afolabi said, “In 2019, the late Josephine came to my shrine in company with one man. She sold mortar and pestle and needed my help so that the business would flourish. I collected N14,000 for the job and asked her to return in three days.
“When she returned, she told me of her plans to get married. She asked me to prepare medicine for her so that she would get pregnant quickly.
“I took the medicine to her house, and it was there that I met her fiancé. On December 19, 2019, at about 6.30 pm, I saw her and her fiancé in Otukpo.
“He (Akpan) later came to my shrine and said that he wanted to use her (Josephine) for money ritual. He said he would give me N5m for me to be silent. At about 10 pm on a later day, we met inside a forest with Josephine. I never knew Akpan had a gun with him. He brought out a cloth, spread it on the ground, and asked her to kneel down for prayers. Before I could understand what was going on, he shot her on the head. He quickly grabbed a calabash and poured some of the blood gushing out from her head into the calabash. I ran home, got a hoe and we dug a shallow grave and buried her.
“When we left the forest, I asked him to bring the N5m that he promised and he promised to give me after eight days. He came to my house later that night and gave me only N50,000. He asked me to be patient to collect the balance.”
However, Akpan, a 57-year-old father of five from Akwa Ibom State, denied killing the NSCDC officer, saying he loved her very much.
