Father Invades Orphanage with Poison to Kill Son in Eket Over Witchcraft Suspicion

A 53 year old man, Mr. Edem Okon from Udung Uko Local Government Area in Nigeria, has allegedly gone to an orphanage, the Child’s Right and Rehabilitation Network, CRARN Children Center in Eket, Akwa Ibom State, with the intention of killing one of his two sons taking refuge there.
The head of the Child’s Right and Rehabilitation Network (CRARN) Mr. Sam Itauma stated this yesterday in a statement made available to press.

The statement said the rationale behind the man’s action was due to a dream he had in which his son, by name Elijah, supposedly appeared and wanted to stab him to death in his sleep.

“This man, by name Edem Okon, sitting with his two kids as shown in this picture is from Udung Uko. He came to the CRARN Children Centre, Eket, Nigeria, two days ago with the sole aim of killing one of his two sons under our care.

His reason, being a dream he had in which his 6-year-old son Elijah, purportedly came to stab him to death while he was sleeping in the night. “The statement said.

The charity organization said though the man has two sons in their care, but he requested to go with one of them, but because they were skeptical about his motives they turned down his request. He later requested to take his children out to purchase items for them in a nearby store. When that too was rejected he became angry and charged at his son warning him not appear in his dreams with diabolical intent otherwise he would kill him.

The statement further said the organization later discovered that the man had come to the orphanage with hidden bread laced with poison made from a local berry called Esere or Calabar beans.
“We later discovered that he came with a poisonous seed called ‘Esere’ or ‘Calabar bean’, concealed in bread and biscuits, to give the unsuspecting son.”

The organization called on the government at all level to intensify the campaign against witchcraft superstition which it said was the major cause of violence against vulnerable children and elderly people.

“It behooves on governments at all level, to treat witchcraft superstition as a pivotal issue that must be crushed, as the levity with which this has been handled over the years has given room to the avoidable violence against innocent children and elderly people that has resulted.” The release maintained