The Rivers State Police Command has exhumed the decomposing body of Justice Azunda, Chief Protocol Officer to the former Chief of Staff, Rivers State Government House, Emeka Woke.
Azunda, a Chief Superintendent of Police, was in a meeting in Isiodo community, Emuoha Local Government Area of the state when gunmen stormed the venue and abducted him three weeks ago.
After the incident, his whereabouts remained unknown until Thursday afternoon, when his charred remains were discovered in a shallow grave inside a forest in Elibrada, Emuoha LGA.
The recovery was made after the police arrested a member of the late notorious kidnapper’s gang, NWordi’s gang, who, upon interrogation, confessed that Justice was killed and buried in their camp.
The suspect later took the police and members of the Emuoha Local Government Vigilante Service to their camp in a boundary forest between Elibrada and the Ogbodo community in Ikwerre LGA.
The police team led by the Divisional Police Officer of Rumuji Division, in collaboration with the vigilante, bagged and moved the body to a mortuary in his hometown.
The Punch correspondent gathered that other shallow graves were seen in the forest, but the police set fire to the camp to ensure that it was completely destroyed.
Speaking on the development, the Chairman of Emuoha LGA, Dr Chidi Lloyd, said people thought Justice was still alive, though in captivity.
Lloyd stated: “Today we have confirmed that indeed he (Justice) has passed on. The DPO and his men have also recovered Automated Teller Machine cards belonging to the late Azunda.
“It is a very sad day for me. Nobody had the premonition that this type of thing would happen to a boisterous young man as late Azunda.”
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“While calling on people in the area to cooperate with the police by providing useful information to them,” he said, “The police are indeed our friends.
“The police, when they have credible information and work on it, most of these puzzles will be unravelled.
“There is no way anybody on earth would have located the remains of the late Justice Azunda in this kind of forest. We have trekked nearly three hours to get to where we are now from the community.”
The Emuoha LG boss had reviewed the bounty placed on notorious kidnapper, Wordi and his gang from N1 million to N2 million following the abduction of CSP Azunda.
A week after the bounty was reviewed, Nwordi, his second in command, and two other members of his gang, including a female, were killed during a gun battle with the police in Ogoloma community in Okrika Local Government Area of the state.
When contacted, the spokesperson of the state Police Command, Grace Iringe-Koko, confirmed the recovery of Azunda’s corpse.
“Yes, I am aware that his body has been recovered and the investigation is ongoing,” she said.
