An usher in one of the new generation churches in Uyo, the Akwa Ibom State capital, who killed his girlfriend, Emem Monday Effanga and stole her phone, has been sentenced to death.
33 year-old Ndifreke Isaiah Nelson was convicted and sentenced this morning, Thursday, 21 May, 2026, after he was found guilty on a two-count charge of murder and stealing by Akwa Ibom State High Court sitting in Uyo.
The incident occurred on February 6, 2025, which was the convict’s birthday, at about 7am, when Nelson, who resided on Udo Udoma Avenue, Uyo, visited his girlfriend, the late Emem Monday Effanga, at her residence located at No. 102, Aka Road, opposite NEPA Line, Uyo, to use her phone to post his birthday pictures on social media.
He, however, ended up struggling with her over the phone, slammed her head against the wall and strangled her to death.
After committing the offence, Nelson fled with the deceased’s phone.
On February 8, 2025, he was tracked to the church located on Nsikak Eduok Avenue, Uyo, during a tarry programme at about 2am.
During interrogation, he confessed to the crime.
Trial Judge, Hon. Justice Ekpo Ntekim, found Nelson guilty and sentenced him to death by hanging or lethal injection for murder.
The judge held that the punishment for stealing was subsumed under the sentence for murder.
Nelson was represented pro bono by a legal luminary from Lagos.
Source: Harrison Essien
