The remains of ex-Edo State Commissioner for Youths and Sports, Presley Ediagbonya, has been recovered 14 days after he was abducted.
The former Commissioner was kidnapped from his farm at Utese, Ovia North East Local Government Area of the state in the early hours of May 16.
The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the body was recovered from a forest near the farm.
His abductors, who initially asked for N15 million ransom, later directed the family to drop N2 million in Patani, a border town between Delta and Bayelsa States.
Shortly after the family dropped the ransom, the abductors were said to have sent an SMS to the family that their father’s body was in a cassava farm near Utese, where he was kidnapped.
It was gathered that a team of hunters and farmers discovered the remains as they were attracted to where the body was abandoned by a strong stench.
The spokesman of the Edo State Police Command, DSP Chidi Nwabuzor, confirmed the recovery.
Nwabuzor said the body was found “by some farmers in a forest sharing boundary with Ondo State at Utese village.”
Nwabuzor said the farmers, who were uneasy and apprehensive about the horrible sight, rushed to the village to break the news.
He said they thereafter moved to the Divisional Police Headquarters in Okada and reported the development to the Divisional Police Officer.
He said: “At the scene, the remains of Edioagbonya was identified by his family and was professionally evacuated to Igbinedion University Teaching Hospital mortuary, Okada for autopsy.
“To this end, the Command deeply commiserates with the immediate family and prays to God to give them the fortitude to bear the loss and vows to fish out the killers of the illustrious son of Utese village.”
