Barely four days after his abduction by gunmen, Chief Edwin Okechuhwu, a prominent Makurdi, Benue State business man, has been killed by his abductors.
The body of deceased was reportedly dumped at the High Level area of Makurdi town in the early hours of Saturday by unknown persons.
Chief Okechukwu was last Tuesday kidnapped from his home at the popular Iorkyaa Ako Street, on High Level, at 8p.m., and taken to an unknown destination by four armed men.
It was gathered from family sources that after his kidnap, his abductors made contact with his family and demanded a ransom of N15 million which the family could not raise.
“We suspect that he was killed because the family could not raise that outrageous ransom. It is unfair, the man was a businessman who lived on loans and facilities from financial institutions to carry on with his business. It was not as if the man had money somewhere,” the family source said.
Contacted, state Police Public Relations Officer, Mr John Bako, said Okechukwu’s corpse was recovered on Saturday at the High Level roundabout area of the town.
Bako said that investigations into the unfortunate incident were still ongoing, adding that preliminary investigations showed that there were no signs of torture or injuries on the corpse.
He said: “We learned he was diabetic, we do not want to draw any conclusions as to the reason for his death, because we are digging deep in order to ensure that all suspects in the matter are arrested and made to face the law.”
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