Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) have called on the Cross River State Police Command to bring to book a gang of youths that lynched Mrs. Martina Okey Itagbor under the guise of trying to curb witchcraft.
Last Thursday, Itagbor was accused of witchcraft and burnt to death by youths of Old Netim in Akamkpa Local Council.
The youths had alleged that she caused the accident that claimed the lives of two young men.
Yesterday, Citizens’ Solution Network and Agba Jalingo Foundation for Investigative and Accountability Journalism issued a statement calling on the Police “to swing into action and have the gang of murderers arrested and prosecuted.”
“They took her life after chopping her fingers and burning her to death in Old Netim, Akamkpa council, accusing her of being a witch,” a statement by the CSOs noted.
The statement, signed by Agba Jalingo, said the soul of Itagbor must get justice, having been “executed extra-judicially by misguided, bloodthirsty murderers.”
It added: “The Nigerian Police must realise that this is one extrajudicial killing too many, and this primitive and unacceptable murder keep occurring in the state because those who killed innocent women, who they don’t like their faces in their local community went scot-free without any repercussions due to the visible refusal of the Cross River State Police Command to arrest, prosecute and ensure that those who take the lives of others get to face the full wrath of the law.
“For this reason, with intention to prevent senseless and reprehensible killings in the future, we the organisations who are signatories to this press statement wish to call on the Nigerian Police Force to see that justice is served as we condemn the murder of Mrs. Martina Okey Itagbor in the strongest terms.”
The CSOs said the state police command “must deem it necessary to rise to the occasion to pre-empt further killings of old women who are defenceless in the face of hostility from unexpected quarters by ensuring that the murderers of Itagbor face the law and account for their brutal killing.
“Let it be in public registry that it is the statutory responsibility of the state and its Police Force to see that this primitive killing is brought to an end and the older and defenceless female population get protected from summary torture, humiliation and killings,” the statement added.
Jalingo stated that the woman was beaten helplessly, adding that even those who wanted to help dared not because they were afraid of the murderous youths.
“She was stripped naked. Woe betides the young people that forcefully stripped the old and elderly naked. It is a taboo in our culture. She cried, but no one came to help.
“Her thumbs were chopped off with a machete. Tyres thrown round her neck, petrol poured over her, she fell to the ground and sat there wailing and begging till a young man stretched a stick and ignited a huge flame,” Jalingo recalled.
 have called on the Cross River State Police Command to bring to book a gang of youths that lynched Mrs.){kind=link}