![\"\"](\"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/Late-Godwin-Thomas-in-his-work-outfit-158x300.jpg\")
As a regular face at events, it was always easy to spot him \u2013 with a bare body, from the waist region up, painted with white clay, wearing a long white skirt, and dark glasses over his face.<\/p>\n
Apart from his fascinating looks at events, Mr Thomas would usually thrill guests, and passers-by, with \u201crobotic\u201d steps, those who knew him told PREMIUM TIMES.<\/p>\n
It was either he got invited and paid for by an event host or he could, sometimes, walked into an event and perform voluntarily with the hope of making some money off the guests, especially if the event were to attract VIPs.<\/p>\n
Mr Thomas\u2019s life was brutally cut short at the traditional marriage ceremony of Governor Emmanuel\u2019s driver, Bassey Edet Bassey, whose bride is from Ndiya Ikot Ukap, Nsit Ubium.<\/p>\n
It is unclear, for now, if the slain entertainer had an invitation to perform at the marriage ceremony or not.<\/p>\n
How he was killed\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n
People who are familiar with the incident, who did not want their names mentioned in the report, said the governor\u2019s driver, Mr Bassey, was being driven out of the event venue at the end of the ceremony when Mr Thomas, the entertainer, with his trademark looks \u2013 a painted body, white flowing skirt, and dark glasses \u2013 rushed to the car, held it and began begging him for money.<\/p>\n
\u201cA policeman inside a pickup truck (that was) protecting the governor\u2019s driver warned Sabata (Mr Thomas) to back off or he was going to fire him,\u201d one of the people familiar with the incident told PREMIUM TIMES.<\/p>\n
\u201cSabata refused to back off and the policeman shot him at close range. They zoomed off in a convoy and left him to die.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kufre Obot, who hails from Etinan, the same local government area with late Mr Thomas, offered a slightly different version of the incident.<\/p>\n
Etinan shares boundary with Nsit Ubium, where the killing took place, and Mr Obot said he had planned to be at the marriage ceremony but for some other engagement which he said occupied him.<\/p>\n
Mr Obot\u2019s version is that the slain entertainer demanded a share of an unspecified cash gift donated to the youth who were present at the marriage ceremony by Governor Emmanuel and Onofiok Luke, the House of Representatives member from the area.<\/p>\n
\u201cEverything happened in daylight and many people were there,\u201d Mr Obot told PREMIUM TIMES, Friday morning.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis guy, Godwin Thomas, popularly known as Sabata, is known for his comedy shows. We call it (the show) playboy in Akwa Ibom, they would be performing, walking like robots.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe went there to perform. So after performing, there was money the governor and Hon. Onofiok Luke gave. The money was shared, but it was not given to them (Mr Thomas and co.). After the marriage (ceremony) they went to the groom (the governor\u2019s driver) and requested a token to be given to them so they can use it to buy soap and wash the clay off their body.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe problem would have been solved right there, but the groom didn\u2019t listen to them, the policeman attached to the groom mistook him (Mr Thomas) to be a nuisance. He warned him to stop disturbing the groom, else he was going to shoot him. He deliberately shot him,\u201d Mr Obot said.<\/p>\n
According to Mr Obot, Mr Thomas did not die instantly. He said the entertainer was begging to be taken to the hospital as he was in pain and was losing blood. He said those who shot him refused.<\/p>\n
Mr Obot, who has shared his version of the story on Facebook, said he got details of the killing from people who were at the marriage ceremony.<\/p>\n
He said most people who witnessed the killing may come out with information on it because of \u201cpolitical affiliation\u201d.<\/p>\n
Aniekan Udofia, the spokesperson to Mr Luke, confirmed the federal lawmaker was at the marriage ceremony but said he did not know if he gave money to the youth since he (Mr Udofia) did not attend the ceremony.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe is a generous person who is always kind to people that come across him,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
The Akwa Ibom government, in less than 24 hours after the incident, issued a statement, saying the governor, Mr Emmanuel, was \u201cdeeply saddened\u201d about the killing.<\/p>\n
The statement, signed by the commissioner for information in the state, Charles Udoh, described the killing as a \u201ctragic event at the end of an otherwise joyous occasion\u201d.<\/p>\n
Mr Udoh said it was an \u201cunwarranted loss of an innocent life\u201d.<\/p>\n
The commissioner said the governor directed security agencies to \u201cfish out\u201d and \u201cprosecute\u201d the killers of Mr Thomas.<\/p>\n
The Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly and many people in the state have also called on the police to bring to justice the police officer who shot Mr Thomas.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is a very unfortunate situation,\u201d the Speaker of the assembly, Aniekan Bassey, said on Tuesday during plenary. \u201cWe will do all we can, within our powers, to uncover the killer. That is what we were elected to do.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIf this action was perpetrated by a common man with no pronounced name or office, the police would have paraded the suspect in less than 6 hrs, but now that it involves a big name and a police detail, investigation is ongoing,\u201d Imo Udoima, Uyo businessman and a Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chieftain, said in a Facebook post, apparently disappointed with the police for not making public the name of the officer who killed Mr Thomas.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Akwa Ibom State Command of the Nigerian Police should know that the mystery surrounding Sabata\u2019s gruesome murder and those involved (in it) is an integrity test; a test that will tell the public whether to rely on the police or resort to self-protection,\u201d Mr Udoima said.<\/p>\n
\u201cHelp find my husband\u2019s killer!\u201d<\/b><\/p>\n
Mr Thomas\u2019 body was later dumped in the morgue at the University of Uyo Teaching Hospital by the police, Margaret Thomas, the pregnant wife of the late entertainer, told this newspaper.<\/p>\n
She and late Mr Thomas were married for about six years, and have a three-year-old daughter.<\/p>\n
\u201cI asked the hospital workers, they said they didn\u2019t know the identity of the police officers who brought the corpse,\u201d she said to PREMIUM TIMES, Wednesday.<\/p>\n
Mrs Thomas said she visited a local police station close to the community where her husband was killed, just so she could find out information about what happened.<\/p>\n
At the police station, she was asked to give a statement. She was then taken to the police headquarters in Uyo the next day to meet with a senior officer who assured her that justice would be done, she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have heard from several people, the policeman who shot my husband came with (the) governor\u2019s driver, he should provide the man who killed my husband.<\/p>\n
\u201cPlease, help me! Help me find the man who killed my husband!\u201d Mrs Thomas begged.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy husband struggled alone all his life, he used to tell me to be patient that someday we would make it. But in the end, they just killed him and dumped his body in the mortuary.\u201d<\/p>\n
The commissioner for information, Mr Udoh, told PREMIUM TIMES, Wednesday night, that Mr Bassey is one of the personal aides to Governor Emmanuel, and not his driver.<\/p>\n
But Mr Bassey himself admitted to this newspaper that he is the governor\u2019s driver.<\/p>\n
Mr Bassey, however, said \u201cit is not true\u201d that a police officer attached to him killed Mr Thomas. He declined to speak further on the incident.<\/p>\n
\u201cInvestigation is still ongoing\u201d was the only response the police spokesperson, Mr MacDon, gave to PREMIUM TIMES when the paper asked him on Wednesday about the progress of the police investigation.<\/p>\n
After the incident, the commissioner for information, Mr Udoh, the state chairman of the PDP, Paul Ekpo, and a state lawmaker from Etinan, visited the wife of the slain entertainer on behalf of the state government.<\/p>\n
As part of the paper\u2019s inquiry on the progress of investigation by the government, PREMIUM TIMES put it to the commissioner for information, Mr Udoh, that a police officer attached to governor\u2019s driver is alleged to be the killer of Mr Thomas.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am not a police officer, it is only the police who can tell us who the person (the killer) is,\u201d Mr Udoh responded.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy job is to see how we can support the family. He has a widow and a young child, so those are my concerns for now. That is why we have been engaging with the family, to see how we can at least help them to put food on the family table. He was the breadwinner.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHow about justice for the family?\u201d PREMIUM TIMES asked the commissioner.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am not a law enforcement agent,\u201d again, he responded.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe governor has directed that an investigation be carried out and the police have issued a statement; they are on it. We trust that the police would do their job, tell us who the killer is, and then bring the killer to book.<\/p>\n
By Premium Times<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The picture is becoming clearer about the fatal shooting of an Akwa Ibom man on November 7 at a marriage ceremony attended by Governor Udom Emmanuel. Mr Emmanuel reportedly left the event venue at Ndiya Ikot Ukap, Nsit Ubium, Akwa Ibom, before the shooting. Both the police and the Akwa Ibom government identified the victim […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":22554,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5777],"tags":[220,221],"class_list":["post-22553","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-features","tag-godwin-thomas","tag-sabata"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22553","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=22553"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22553\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=22553"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=22553"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=22553"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}