Very late on Friday night, news filtered that the body of Princewill Odiari, the late chairman of Asari-Toru Local Government Area in Rivers was exhumed by gunmen who stormed the Port Harcourt cemetery.
Odiari had died on Wednesday night following complications from COVID-19 and was buried on Thursday morning by health officials from the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC).
According to the report on Friday, the gunmen who were allegedly made up of young men from Buguma were displeased with the way the late council boss was hurriedly buried, away from his hometown.
An individual who claimed to an eyewitness stated that the corpse was whisked away through the Bille Waterside in Port Harcourt and that the State government sent troops to prevent entrance of the exhumed body into Buguma.
However, in reaction to the reports, the Rivers state government on Saturday, May 30th released a ‘Government Special Announcement’ where they debunked the report.
According to Paulinus Nsirim, Commissioner for Information and Communications, “the rumour making the rounds that the body of the late Chairman of Asari-Toru Local Government Area, Odiari Princewill has been exhumed from the Port Harcourt cemetery is baseless and untrue.”
The state government further stated that the “The grave where the deceased was interred is still intact as no one has tampered with it.
“Government hereby warns families, friends and relations who may want to desecrate the grave of the deceased that the full weight of the law will be visited on them.
“Security agencies have therefore been placed on red alert to ensure that only authorized persons come near the cemetery.
“Any unauthorized person found around the cemetery will be arrested and prosecuted.”
