Sea Pirate To Die By Hanging For Armed Robbery, Murder In Akwa Ibom

Joshua Okon Archibong, 30, a native of Ekpene Ibia in Uruan Local Government Area Akwa-Ibom State, has been sentenced to death by hanging by Akwa Ibom State High Court for his involvement in a series of violent crimes including armed robbery, murder and kidnapping along the Uruan and Oron waterways, reports Business Today NG
Achibong, also a member of a notorious gang of sea pirates, was convicted on a four-count charge bordering on conspiracy and armed robbery.
He was arrested in November 2019, during one of his operations in Ndon Ebom village, Uruan where he, alongside one Udeme and Isaac now at large robbed motorcyclists and roads users one of whom raised the alarm which attracted the villagers and he was arrested and while his gang members escaped.
Popularly known as “Benji Kasiah,” the convict, who is a primary school dropout, had confessed in his extrajudicial statement to participating in an attack in February 2019 on a boat ferrying passengers, rice, and fish from Adadia Beach, and in April 2019, during another operation at Akpa Inne Waterways, the gang shot two vigilante members from Esuk Odu village who attempted to confront them.
Archibong revealed that the gang maintained hideouts in Inne Emman village and Ufak Ibuot Creek in Uruan, where they stored stolen goods and held kidnapped victims, including an expatriate abducted at a construction site in Mbiaya Uruan.
He also confessed to the murder of a police sergeant and the kidnapping of two individuals, for whom they collected a ransom of N200,000 in December 2018.
In one particularly gruesome account, the convict admitted to shooting a boat driver on 15th August 2019 at Ufak Ibuot Waterway for refusing to stop the vessel, an action which resulted in a stray bullet killing a pregnant woman onboard.
He also disclosed that he sought spiritual protection from a native doctor in Oku Iboku, Itu Local Government Area, to evade police arrest.
Delivering judgment, the presiding judge, Justice Bassey Nkanang, held that the prosecution had proven its case beyond reasonable doubt and found Archibong guilty of murder and armed robbery. He declared that Joshua Okon Archibong, be hanged by the neck until he is dead or by lethal injection.
With the judgment, the court has brought closure to one of the state’s most high-profile criminal cases, marking a significant victory in the fight against sea piracy and violent crime in Akwa Ibom waterways.