An Akwa Ibom State High Court in Uyo has sentenced a resident pastor of Living Faith Church (Winners Chapel) to death by hanging after finding him guilty of murdering his landlord in 2020.
Justice Gabriel Ette delivered the judgment on Thursday, February 19, 2026, convicting 29-year-old Prince Emmanuel Umoh for the murder of Gabriel Bassey Edward, a University of Uyo student, on December 21, 2020, at Ifa Ikot Ubo, Uyo.
Edward, a 500-level Civil Engineering student, had been living in his late mother’s property where a hall in the compound was rented to the church for worship services. Umoh had been posted there as pioneer resident pastor and was given a spare key to access church items stored in the flat.
Witnesses told the court they saw Umoh entering the compound on the day of the incident. Neighbours reported hearing screams from within the premises, after which Umoh was seen leaving with bloodstains on his clothing. He claimed he had fallen while hanging a banner. Edward was never seen alive again.
His decomposing body was discovered five days later, wrapped in a mat in his room, bearing multiple stab wounds. A knife was recovered at the scene. Prosecutors presented six witnesses and established that tensions had existed between the two men over access to the apartment, unpaid rent, and missing property.
Umoh was arraigned on December 6, 2021, on a single count of murder, to which he pleaded not guilty. After a judgment that lasted over two hours, Justice Ette held that the prosecution had proved its case beyond reasonable doubt, describing the crime as a grave betrayal of trust given the convict’s role as a religious leader.
“Having found you guilty as charged, I hereby sentence you to death by hanging,” the judge declared.
The conviction brings to a close nearly six years of prosecution by the state. In a poignant postscript to the tragedy, Edward’s academic results — released posthumously — showed he had graduated with First Class honours in Civil Engineering.
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