Police operatives in Rivers on Monday, recovered the remains of a 61-year-old traditional ruler of Luwa Community in Khana Local Government Area of Rivers State.
   
The decomposed body of the late Chief Robert Loolo was found by operatives in a creek linking Luwa, Bera and Bane Communities, and was subsequently exhumed.
 
It was learnt that the late Chief was whisked away from his residence on June 27, 2019, about 8:50 p.m. by alleged irate youths of the community over leadership tussle. 
 
According to one of the deceased’s sons, Dr. Douglas Fabeke, ransom was paid twice to secure the chief’s release from his captors but the effort proved abortive.

He added that the traditional ruler was tortured as he was tied to a stick in the heart of the creek and left to die without help.

He said: “He was kidnapped from his house by a youth group in the community, who were fighting for a youth president. We tried to beg these youths to release him for us, and to an extent, we had to pay ransom twice. We reported the matter to the police and security agencies in the state.They were involved in making sure that the late chief was released and after some time there was silence.

“ We went into more action and after about a few months, we were able to arrest the native doctor, who confessed that the man had been killed but does not know where he was buried. 

“Ever since we have been on this issue. Last two months, we renewed efforts through intelligence gathering to make sure we locate where he was buried, and by the grace of God, today we were able to mobilise forces from Bori divisional police headquarters with a combined team and stormed the forest.

“We were able to discover where he was buried. Everything to identify him with was there. We noticed that he was tortured. He was tied to a tree.”

The State Police Public Relations Officer, SP Nnamdi Omoni is yet to react to the incident as he could not be reached at the time of filing this report.

The Guardian