Armed men storm cemetery, exhume corpse of Covid-19 patient

GUN-WIELDING men have exhumed the remains of Odiari Princewill, the former executive chairman of the Asari-toru local government area of Rivers State in Nigeria, who had contracted Covid-19, according to a Nigerian news report.

The Daily Post reported that Princewill’s

body was exhumed by armed men believed to be from his hometown of Buguma.

Citing eyewitnesses, the publication reported 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, the newspaper reported.

“They were like 10 of them. They said they want to give the chairman a proper burial in his hometown,” a witness was quoted as having said.

The Daily Post reported that police spokesperson Nnamdi Omoni could not confirm the incident.

Princewill reportedly died in the early hours of Thursday and was buried immediately at the Port Harcourt cemetery in line with the Covid-19 protocol by officials of the Nigeria

Centre for Disease Control.

Yesterday, figures on real-time Covid-19 data portal Worldometer indicated that Africa’s most populous country had 9302 confirmed Covid19 cases, with 261 associated deaths.