Akpan Okon Akpan, a roadside petrol seller, allegedly burned his friend to death over a phone charger.
Okon was accused of setting fire to the victim, Junior Ime Philip, and abandoning him to die after a disagreement over a phone charger.
The Akwa Ibom Police Command confirmed the development after the suspect was apprehended by command personnel.
The Commissioner of Police, Olatoye Durosinmi, paraded the suspect and others at the command headquarters in Uyo, saying the suspect doused the victim with petrol during an altercation and ignited the fire that killed Philip.
“On 15th December 2022 relying on a petition from Rev. Emmanuel Ime ‘m’ of Ikot Ekwere Ubium Village in Nsit Ublum LGA, at about 6:30pm, operatives of the homicide unit of the SCID Uyo, arrested one Akpan Okon Akpan ‘m’ of same address who poured fuel on his brother, one Junior Ime Philip and set him ablaze leading to his death because of a disagreement over a phone charger.”
Narrating what led to his action, the suspect said, “I don’t know the guy before, he ran into my shop and said he was looking for someone who collected his charger, I told him that such a person was not in my shop. Out of anger, he took a bottle and started fighting me and I fought back.
“I used the petrol I’m selling and poured it on him, honestly I didn’t know what I was doing until he started burning and people gathered, we were trying to put out the fire but it was already late because when they took him to hospital, he died there.”