Okuni, the sleepy, riverside community in Ikom LGA, Cross River State, is still in shock after a man, identified by the police as 30-year old Amba Ubung, inflicted multiple, life threatening matchet cuts on his girlfriend, Blessing Onawu, after he didn’t see her on February 14, 2024, to celebrate St. Valentine’s Day with him.
At the state command headquarters of the Nigeria Police, Diamond Hill, Calabar, where Ubung was paraded by the Cross River State Commissioner of Police, Gyogon Grimah, the suspect is believed to have given the victim N7,000 (seven thousand naira) to make her hair before Val’s Day. After she collected the money and went to make her hair, he didn’t see her until February 17, three days later.
“The said lady did not show up after waiting patiently. Armed with a machete, the suspect Amba Ubung went to Blessing Onawu’s residence, attacked her, and intentionally slashed multiple places on her body with the intention of killing her. The victim’s mother attempted to free her from the bloodthirsty Amba, but he responded by giving her several degrees of machete slashes with the same weapon”, the CP said.
Ubung told journalists that, “I didn’t know myself that day because I had taken ‘combine’. When I went to her place I wasn’t happy because of what she had done. When I asked her why she refused to show up she started laughing. I felt so bad and used the cutlass I was holding to injure her. When the mother came and held me, we started dragging the cutlass; I didn’t know if in that process the knife cut her. I didn’t know myself.” He made further claims that he had taken a lot and was under the influence of “Combine”, a very potent and addictive drink heavily laced with alcohol and marijuana.
With moderated force, a team of police officers finally disarmed and arrested the suspect, before the victims of the attack were rushed to hospital. The suspect is at the State Criminal Investigation Department, SCID, Calabar, for further investigation and prosecution.
