New Telegraph

Kidnapped businessman, American returnee’s bodies found

A businessman, Okoh Enejor, who was kidnapped by suspected Fulani herdsmen in Benue State has been found dead. Also, the decomposing body of an America-based Nigerian, Prince Dennis Eloniyo, from Fugar in Etsako West Local Government Area of Edo State, was found in a forest on Benin- Lagos Expressway yesterday. Enejor’s body was discovered in a forest at Odokpo village in Okpokwu Local Government Area of Benue State. Odokpo is a boundary village between Ado and Okpokwu local government areas.

The community plays host to a number of Fulani herdsmen. Enejor was kidnapped while returning from one of the Fulani herdsmen settlements in the area after he bought three cows. He was waylaid on Odokpo- Ichama Road on his way back from the said Fulani settlement. A source from the area said the businessman’s body was found after family and friends had paid a N2 million ransom to his kidnappers. The state Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), DSP Catherine Sewuese Anene, refused to pick her calls to confirm the story. Meanwhile, Eloniyo was reportedly kidnapped on Saturday on the Auchi-Benin By-Pass alongside three others (two males and a female) inside a Toyota Sienna on their way to Lagos.

His abductors were said to have shot him because he could not keep pace with them. The kidnappers left Eloniyo’s body, while they moved on with the three other victims. The kidnappers negotiated with his brother, who paid an undisclosed amount as ransom without knowing that he had been killed. The three others were later released, without Eloniyo.

“He was killed on Saturday, the day he was abducted, because he could not walk fast enough into the bush. After killing him, they proceeded with the ransom negotiations and got the money,” a family source said. The other three were released yesterday without Eloniyo, fuelling suspicion about his safety.

A search party organised by the police, vigilantes and hunters discovered his decomposing body yesterday morning. The PPRO, SP Chidi Nwabuozor, confirmed the story but said the police were on it and did not want to reveal so much information that could hamper investigations. He said: “If it is the one that happened by the by-pass, the command is fully aware and the Commissioner of Police personally led operatives to the scene this morning and they are still in the forest on active combing of the bush.”

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