By Abasiofiok Inyang
A former councilor in Abak Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State, Hon. Saviour Hanson Akpan, has been sentenced to six months imprisonment for providing false information to the police, alleging the theft and ritual murder of a three-day-old baby.
Hon. Akpan, 58, who previously represented Midim Ward and once aspired to the State House of Assembly, was convicted by Chief Magistrate Sam Ukoima of Magistrate Court 11, Uyo, on Wednesday, April 9, 2025.
The charge, numbered MU/778c/2020, stemmed from a 2020 petition in which Akpan accused the village head of Nto Otong, Midim Clan, Chief Patrick Okon Akerete, and four council members—Friday Okon Mboho, Chief Okon Akpan Udousoro, Rachel Linus Isong, and Boniface Etim Offiong—of murdering a baby in 2012 for ritual purposes.
His claims led to the arrest and detention of the village leaders at the Police Headquarters in Ikot Akpan Abia. However, investigations later revealed that the allegations were false and based on hearsay. Court records showed that Akpan admitted he acted on what “someone told him.”
The case’s background revealed that the infant was discovered abandoned in an uncompleted building in 2012 by Mrs. Affiong Atai, who alerted the village head. The baby was subsequently handed over to the police and taken to the Akwa Ibom State Welfare Office for care.
Years later, following a fallout with village council members, Akpan fabricated the ritual murder story in a petition that resulted in the unlawful arrest of the village head and others.
Chief Magistrate Ukoima, in a detailed one-hour-and-25-minute judgment, found Akpan guilty of deliberately misleading the police—a violation of Section 127(1)(a) of the Criminal Code, Cap 38, Laws of Akwa Ibom State. Though the offense carries a maximum sentence of one year, the magistrate, following a plea for leniency, reduced it to six months imprisonment without an option of fine.
Hon. Akpan has since been remanded at the Uyo Correctional Centre.
Reacting to the ruling, Chief Akerete hailed the judgment as “excellentisma” and expressed relief at his vindication, praising the court for its diligence in uncovering the truth.
