5 people are dead, and 3 are on trial for murder after accusations of witchcraft.

Three individuals have been brought before the State High Court sitting in Calabar on charges of murder in connection with the witchcraft deaths of five people in the Ndon Nwong Community in the Odukpani Local Council of Cross River State.

Five people were murdered on September 14, 2022, on suspicion of witchcraft, and the suspects Bassey Okon Effiong, 20, Etim Ekpenyong Ekpo, 18, and Bassey Nyong Bassey, 27, were in court. Other suspects are still at large.

Following a kangaroo trial in the village square, some chiefs and adolescents from the Ndon Nwong community tied the victims up, tormented them, and brutalised them to death.

On the night of September 13, 2022, two youngsters were tortured and forced to identify the witches who caused a motorbike accident, and the young people who witnessed this tragedy rallied the other victims.

Four of the victims, including one Madam Iqwo, were slaughtered and buried in a shallow grave in the jungle, while the other four were either released or allowed to escape.

As the previous application was set to expire on October 3, 2023, state prosecutor Adama Cletus asked the court for permission to alter the charge information from charge number 8C20C, 2022 to 8C20C, 2023 at the hearing.

Victor Offiong, the trial judge, granted the request and set the plea hearing on November 21.

Mustapha Egweshi, attorney for the third defendant (Bassey Nyong Bassey), told reporters shortly after the adjournment that he had not been supplied with the material.

Justice for the five people brutally murdered over what human rights activist and Principal Counsel at Basic Right Counsel James Ibor called “mere superstition” should be served, he said, and he was pleased with the process.

Asuquo Eyo, the late Madam Iquo Eyo’s son, and Chief Okon-Nyong Asuquo, her brother, both shared their shock and grief at the news of her brutal murder.

They pleaded with the state authorities to find and punish the murderers.