Man arrested for presenting stolen cow for father-in-law’s burial rites

Ikenna Ogbonna Ota, who is from the Azuoto Okpoitumo community in the Abakaliki Local Government Area of the state, has been arrested by the Ebonyi State Police Command. He is accused of stealing a cow and giving it to his late father-in-funeral law's as a gift.

Reports say that Ota went to his wife's in-laws' house on Friday, December 9, 2022, to give them things for the funeral of their late father. He had stolen a female cow from his community and brought it with him to the ceremony.

Unfortunately for him, Thomas Agbo, the owner of the stolen native cow, visited the family of the dead man because he felt bad for them. He was able to tell that the cow the son-in-law gave him was his missing cow, so he called the police.

Agbo said he went to the bush to check on the cow four days before the funeral of his neighbor's father-in-law, but he couldn't find the cow where it was tied. He said that he was surprised to see the stolen cow when he went to Ebia Unuphu Community to comfort Okemini Oyibe's family. He said that he saw the cow tied to some Fulani cows as part of a ritual presentation.

"Ikenna Ogbonna Ota is my neighbour. I knew that his father-in-law had died and that he would be buried on December 9. One of my cows ran away a few days before the ceremony. "My children tried to find it but couldn't, and I didn't see it until I saw IKenna bring it to Ebia Unuhu for his father-in-funeral," law's he said.

When the suspect was questioned, he said he didn't steal the cow. He said that he bought it for N110,000 (only one hundred and ten thousand naira) from a man named "Mr. No Time" in the village of Azu-Ebonyi, Amachi Unuphu, which is next to Azuoto Okpuitumo.

The police say that after the investigation, the suspect will be taken to court and charged.