Corpse of Woman Who Drowned in Drainage Yet to be Recovered

Okon Bassey in Uyo

Two weeks after an aged woman was drowned in a drainage channel in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State capital, the corpse is yet to be recovered by the family and government search team.

The deceased, Ekaette Wilson Okpon of  Nnung Udo Uweme family in Iboko Offort Village, Uyo, a petty trader aged about 60 years fell into a drainage on March 9, 2022, since then the body has not been seen.

Speaking with journalists yesterday, the family of the deceased woman appealed to the Akwa Ibom State Government to help the family recover the corpse.

The family has also called on the state government to cover up drainages opened in the area during sanitation exercise, and others, including a major carnage opened up during the purported search for madam Okpon’s corpse

Madam Okpon, a petty trader by Nkemba junction, mistakenly stepped into an open gutter during a heavy rain and efforts by onlookers to rescue her failed as the water speedily swept her off into the drainage channel. 

Reacting to the sad incident, members of her immediate community had on March 10 blocked the Nkemba axis of Abak Road and demanded, among other things an immediate recovery of the corpse and replacement of slaps on the gutters.

To return normalcy to the major street, Ministry of Environment and the Akwa Ibom State Environmental and Waste Management Agency, were mobilised for search, with heavy machines and equipment.

The State Commissioner for Environment, Mr. Charles Udoh, who spent the entire day at the scene of the incident, assured that necessary measures would be taken to recover the corpse.

 Hon. Prince Ikim, chairman of the agency directly in charge of waste management, had assured that efforts were in place to recover the corpse.

Two weeks after, Madam Okpon’s corpse still hanging in the drainage, the family has expressed concerns that the search was not just abandoned after the initial effort, but that the gutters were still left open.

 The deceased family, through the Secretary of Nnung Udo Uweme family, Mr Otobong Okpon, said the family had expected the state government to interface with them as agreed last week.

“The agency asked what the family and community needed, we asked that the woman’s corpse be recovered for proper burial, and that the gutters should be desilted up to Michael Abraham and the slaps covered to avoid future occurrences”

“On Sunday, they sneaked in and evacuated those machines. On Monday we called to find out why that was so, they told us the machines were rented from NigerPet, not from the ministry or agency.

“So we called the family head, village head, youth President, we put heads together and decided to send a letter, inviting the state government to come and have a discussion with us, prominent on our demands was that we needed the corpse recovered for proper burial.

“We also requested that the gutters be desilted up to the big drainage at Nkemba Trough and all the slaps covered back to forestall future occurrences. We fixed the meeting last Friday 10 a.m. at Iboko village hall (Civic Center Abak Road by Ukana Offort traffic light) the agency called to acknowledge receipt of the letter but told us  the chairman was in Abuja for purchase of governorship form with  Umo Eno,  so the meeting was postponed to Tuesday.”

Other petty traders by the Nwaniba Junction have appealed to the state government to promptly cover up the gutters and the major carnage opened up during the search, maintaining that the shoddy approach to the situation was rather endangering the lives of others within the locality.”

M.r Iniobong Akpan, who also spoke on the matter, advised the state government to engage a drone if it truly desires to recover the corpse.

“If the victim was a politician’s mother, mother-in-law, wife or relative, I bet you the corpse would have since been recovered. But look at how they immediately abandon the search. Ride a drone around the ravine where the gutters terminate, and you would at least be able to recover the corpse,” he said.