How 41-year-old foodseller died after governor gave out N1m in crowded market
Mrs Lizzy Offiong had gone to the Mbiaobong market in Akwa Ibom to buy foodstuffs when the state governor, Udom Emmanuel, arrived the same market.
Emmanuel then asked for the market leader so he could give her N1m to share among traders in the market.
The governor met the market leader, an elderly woman, handed her the money, instructed her to share it with the other women and left.
The confusion that followed the governor’s departure as the women began to scuttle for the money.
That’s how Offiong’s husband, Mr. Gabriel Dick, narrated the event.
“The old woman was dragged here and there…I did not know how the money got into my wife’s hand, before men and other women ramped into her, pushed her into the gutter and matched on her,” he said.
Offiong was in a coma when she was taken to St. Luke Hospital in Uyo where she received six hours of treatment before being transferred to the University of Uyo Teaching Hospital where she died.
The market leader, Edemawang Udo, 65, confirmed the incident to Punch. She said the governor sent for her and gave her N1m to share with other market women.
Her words:
“A young man who stood nearby came to collect the money from me, but when a policeman asked if he was my son, I said no. So, immediately I took the money to my stall, other women ran up to me to seize the money; and before you know, men selling beef, overpowered all of us and collected the money.
“I was trampled on and thrown into the gutter; and since then, I have just come to the market. I’ve not seen a kobo of the money the governor gave to us. I don’t know if there was anybody who suffered the way I did.”
However, the state’s police said they are unaware of the incident..
