Church usher sentenced to death for girlfriend’s murder

Etim Ekpimah

An usher in a new-generation church in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, has been sentenced to death for killing his girlfriend, Emem Monday Effanga, and stealing her phone.
Ndifreke Isaiah Nelson, 33, was convicted and sentenced on Thursday after the Akwa Ibom State High Court sitting in Uyo found him guilty on a two counts of murder and stealing.
The incident occurred on February 6, 2025; Nelson’s birthday at about 7 am when he visited the deceased at her residence at No. 102 Aka Road, opposite NEPA Line, Uyo, to use her phone to post his birthday pictures on social media.
However, a struggle reportedly broke out over the phone, during which Nelson slammed Effanga’s head against a wall and strangled her to death.
After committing the crime, he fled with the deceased’s phone.
Nelson was later tracked down on February 8, 2025, at about 2 am during a tarry programme at a church on Nsikak Eduok Avenue, Uyo.
During interrogation, he confessed to the crime.
Delivering judgment, 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 in the sentence for murder.
Nelson was represented pro bono by a Lagos-based lawyer.