Tenant kills landlord, landlady, sets house ablaze in Uyo

The suspect had threatened to burn the house if ejected.

A tenant in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, allegedly set his residence ablaze on Monday, killing his landlord and landlady.

The house is located at Asuquo Eyo Street in Ifa Ikot Okpon in the Uyo Local Government Area of the state.

The suspect, in his mid 40s, identified simply as Ime and popularly known as Shawa, was said to have threatened to burn down the house and kill his landlord and wife if they ejected him.

The News Agency of Nigeria learnt that Ime, allegedly kept his threat by stabbing his landlord, Edem Akpan, and the landlady, Affiong Udo, to death, before setting the house ablaze.

Emem Akpan, the deceased’s daughter, narrated the incident to saying that trouble started when her father asked Ime to quit his house.

Ms. Akpan said that the suspect refused to park out and threatened that if her father insisted on ejecting him, he would kill them and burn down the house.

“We thought what he said was just a mere threat. None of us could believe that Ime was capable of doing what he said.

“Two days ago, we saw him bringing worn-out tyres into the compound. We didn’t know he had a plan.

“Yesterday, before we left for church in the evening, he brought 20 litres of fuel, more than what his generator could contain.

“I remember a neighbour asking him what he was going to do with such amount of fuel, but he told him that he was going to run the generator overnight.

“This is what we saw this morning as we returned from church, that the fuel and worn-out tyres were weapons used by the assailant to kill my parents,” she said.

Ruth Jeremiah, another daughter of the deceased and ex-girlfriend of the suspect, said she parted ways with Ime over a year ago.

She said it was Ime’s crafty attitude of not letting her know his parents, his actual Local Government in Annang and even his surname that made her to terminate the relationship.

Ms. Jeremiah said that for the period she was with Ime, she did not know anything about his other names, except Ime’ or `Shawa’.

She said that the suspect had removed all his property in the house on Sunday night before killing her parents and setting the house ablaze.

Ms. Jeremiah said that there was no tenancy agreement between her father and the suspect as the house was rented out, based on gentleman’s agreement.

The Public Relations Officer of the Akwa Ibom State Police Command, Etim Dickson, confirmed the incident, saying that the command was aware that an elderly man and the wife had been burnt to death.

Mr. Dickson said that investigation was going on to unravel the mystery surrounding the killing of the man and wife and the burning of their house.

“We are aware that a husband and wife have been set ablaze. We do not know the circumstances surrounding the incident.

“We are still investigating the incident. No arrest has been made yet,” he said.

(NAN)