Kidnapped family members still in captivity
The people of Ameze Owerre, Umabor community in Nsukka Local Council of Enugu State, have recovered the decomposing corpse of a kinsman, Ugwuanyi Israel, who died in Lagos.
Ugwuanyi’s corpse was abducted by gunmen, along 9th Mile Road in Umuoka community, Udi Local Council, last Sunday. The abductors took all family members and the driver conveying the corpse from Lagos to Nsukka, where funeral arrangements had been scheduled to hold.
The kidnappers also demanded a N50 million ransom from the family. However, two days after the abduction, Ugwuanyi’s corpse was recovered from a forest near 9th Mile Corner.
It was gathered that troops combing the forest saw the body on Tuesday morning and took it to a nearby police station for onward deposit in a morgue. The move was, however, turned down by the police.
A family member, who pleaded anonymity, said one of the soldiers saw the phone of one of the victims, named Sunday, and called a number on the contact list.
“We were running about seeking help on how to get the corpse and our other brothers released from captivity when the number called. It turned out to be a soldier. He told us how they found the corpse. He told us to come to the police station at 9th Mile, where they would hand over the corpse to be deposited in a morgue.”
“But as we headed to Enugu to meet them, the army man called again, saying that the police had rejected the corpse. We pleaded with them to help us deposit it at any nearby mortuary,” the family member said.
He disclosed that because of the decomposing nature of the corpse, the family and community had to bury it immediately. On the abducted members of the family and the driver, he said the larger family and the community have not been able to raise the ransom demanded by the kidnappers.
