Late Akwa Ibom PDP chieftain’s son charged with attempted homicide after alleged assault on pregnant woman in US

A 42-year-old Nigerian man, Odudu Ukpanah, has been charged with attempted homicide and multiple related offences following an alleged violent assault on a pregnant woman in the United States.

Ukpanah, who is the only son of late Akwa Ibom PDP chieftain Engr. Albert Jimmy Ukpanah, was arrested in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, after an incident that occurred on November 7, 2025, but only became public on January 17, 2026.

According to police reports, officers responded to a distress call at the Seven Gables Apartments shortly before noon and found a woman with severe head injuries, drifting in and out of consciousness in a stairwell. The victim was reported to be three months pregnant at the time of the attack.

Witnesses told authorities that Ukpanah allegedly choked and slammed the woman to the ground, fled when people intervened, and later returned to assault her again. He was subsequently located in a nearby apartment and taken into custody.

Police charged him with attempted homicide, aggravated assault, strangulation, and aggravated assault of an unborn child.

Ukpanah was arraigned before Magisterial District Judge David Rogers and is currently being held at Cumberland County Prison without bail.

His name had previously surfaced in public discourse after he was falsely accused of killing his father, who was assassinated at his residence in Akwa Ibom State on March 12, 2014. Ukpanah was later discharged and acquitted by the Akwa Ibom State High Court on June 2, 2016.

The latest case has since sparked widespread reactions both in Nigeria and abroad as investigations continue.