Operatives of the Nigeria Police have recovered the decomposed remains of the 61-year-old traditional ruler of Luwa Community in Khana Local Government Area of Rivers State, Chief Robert Loolo.
The remains of Loolo, who was abducted two years ago, were recovered and exhumed from a creek between Luwa, Bera and Bane within the LGA Monday by police operatives.
It was gathered that Loolo was picked and taken away from his residence on June 27, 2019, at bout 8:50 pm by angry youths of the community over a leadership crisis.
One of the sons, Dr Douglas Fabeke, who is also the Leader of Ogoni Liberation Initiative, OLI, confirmed that ransom was paid twice to secure the Chief’s release from his captors but that proved abortive.
Fabeke stated that the traditional ruler was tortured, tied to two sticks in the heart of the forest and abandoned to die without help.
He said: “He was kidnapped from his house by a youths group in the community, fighting over leadership. We tried to beg those youths to release him for us, and to an extent, we had to pay ransom twice.
“We reported the matter to the police and to all the security agencies in the state they got involved in making sure the man was released and after some time there was silence.
“We went into more action and after a few months, we were able to arrest the native doctor who confessed that the man had been killed but did not know where he was buried.
“Ever since we have been on this issue, but two months ago, we renewed effort through intelligence gathering to make sure we locate where he was buried, and by the grace of God, today (Monday) we were able to mobilize forces from the 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 he was tortured. He was tied to a tree.”
However, a senior police officer in the Bori Divisional Police Station, who led the team to the creek, said the recovery followed a relentless investigation and search in various forests within the area.
Meanwhile, the Public Relations Officer of the state police command, SP. Nnamdi Omoni, who confirmed the development, said the command has commenced a further investigation to fish out the perpetrators of the act and bring them to book.