Police Asked Ini Umoren's Family To Hire A Van, Fuel It Before Investigation, Friend Reveals

Umoh Uduak, a close friend of Iniubong Umoren, the Akwa Ibom job seeker who was raped and killed, has alleged that police operatives demanded that a van be hired and fuelled before they would launch an investigation in the case of the late graduate.

Umoh earlier posted on social media that the family of the deceased were asked to wait for 24 hours after the case was reported to the police. 

Last Friday morning, she tweeted, “Her sister (the victim's sister) is in the police station. And they are saying 24 hours before making any move.”

Nigerians on social media helped with a virtual search as many trended the hashtag #findHinyHumoren while many others traced the alleged kidnapper's Facebook name, phone number, workplace, among others.

The police, after much pressure on social media, however, started an investigation and Umoren's death was confirmed on Sunday.

According to the Akwa Ibom State Police Command, Odiko Macdon, on Sunday, the culprit confessed to having committed the crime and buried her in a shallow grave.

But in an interview with TVC, Umoh, who was seen shedding tears, said the victim kept her abreast of her movements.

Umoh said Ini’s sister had gone to the police station to report the case when she informed her of the development.

She said the family was told by the police that it hadn’t been up to 24 hours since she disappeared, so Ini’s sister had to return home.

She said, “When she went back at 8:30 am (the next day), the police told her they couldn’t go with their van, that she had to hire a van and buy fuel. I called (some) people and they sent money which she got and returned to the station.

“They said they were investigating and we heard nothing. I sent the number to people who checked with Truecaller and found it belonged to Ezekiel Akpan. People went through her Twitter and saw the post she made seeking a job.”

Akpan was said to have promised the deceased a job and fixed an appointment with her in Uyo where she would meet her death. 

Umoh revealed that a previous victim (Miriam) reached out to her following Ini’s death to reveal how “Akpan had similarly invited her, only to drug, rape, photograph, and blackmail her with threats of posting her nudes online.”

She added that Miriam sent the address where the incident occurred, which was forwarded to the police, at which time Akpan’s father was arrested. Akpan would later report himself to the police.

“A girl named Miriam said she was in that position with the same guy who chatted her up for a job offer,” Umoh said.

“She said, when she got there, the guy drugged her, gave her weed, raped her, took pictures of her saying if she reported the case, they were going to post it online. She said they used it to blackmail her for money.

“She gave me the address and it was there they arrested the father before he took himself to the station. The sister (of the deceased) had been told that Umoren was raped countless times. She later said Umoren had been killed.

“This is not a case of her going missing. Everyone knew where she went. She sent the address to her sister. She also sent the number of the caller (Akpan) to her sister. We got his picture. The father admitted it was his son.

“People were coming out to give their statement that he had been doing the same thing to other people. So why did the police delay as of two days ago to tell us she had been killed. We don’t know when exactly she was killed.”

Umoh said Umoren's whereabouts were always known to her and others as the young lady hardly went for any event or outing.

She added that Umoren was an orphan, who worked hard for everything. According to her, Umoren sometimes missed lectures because she was working at a private coaching centre to earn money to feed and do other important things.