Tobias Sylvester
Gun-wielding men have exhumed the remains of former executive chairman of the Asari-Toru local government area of Rivers State, Odiari Princewill, who recently died of coronavirus infection.
Princewill’s body was reportedly exhumed on Friday by ten armed men who claimed they wanted to give him a proper burial in his hometown, Buguma.
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An eyewitness said that the gunmen stormed the Port Harcourt cemetery, fired random shots in the air, went to where the late chairman was buried, and dug up the coffin.
It was understood that they had subsequently escaped with the coffin through the Bille waterside jetty in Port Harcourt.
“I think they are system men. The way they came to the cemetery, everyone just slowly walked away. Sometimes we used to have people come like that, especially when the person that died belonged to a group.
“But this one is different. They just came and went straight to the burial ground and started digging out the sand. They were like 10 of them. They said they want to give the chairman a proper burial in his hometown,” the witness said.
When contacted, Police Public Relations Officer in Rivers state, DSP Nnamdi Omoni, promised to confirm the incident.
Princewill reportedly died in the early hours of Thursday of coronavirus, and was buried immediately at the Port Harcourt cemetery in line with the COVID-19 burial protocol by officials of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC).
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