… As gunmen kidnap doctor

From Chris Anucha and Tony John, Port Harcourt

There was horror and pandemonium yesterday in Rumuosi community, River State, when neighbours discovered the decomposing bodies of a couple and four children in their apartment.

Though autopsy was yet to be conducted on the victims at press time, preliminary investigation insicated that they died from suffocation caused by generator fumes.

Neighbours told Daily Sun that the victims were last seen on the night of Friday, June 30, 2017, and they became curious whenthe foul odour emanating from the victims’ apartment became unbearable.

Following a report lodged at Choba Police Station, some policemen were dispatched to force open the door of the aprtment, only to find the family of six dead.

Reports said the victims were lying on the floor of the sitting room, with the television on.

Neighbours also said that on the night they were last seen, there was power outage and the family was using the electricity generator.

The landlord of the house, simply identified as Darlington, said he saw members of the family on Friday night, when their generator was still on, adding that he never suspected anything when he didn’t see them the following day.

According to him, when he still didn’t see them throughout Saturday and Sunday, he thought they went to the church.

“I was in my place of work yesterday when my younger brother called me on phone and said something tragic had happened in my house. The house was sealed, when the police were invited. Policemen came and forced the apartment’s door open, where the decomposing bodies were found,” he said.

Rivers State Police Public Relation Officer, Mr. Nnamdi Omoni, confirmed the incident, but could not say anything about the identity of the victims.

In another development, gunmen have kidnapped a medical consultant with the Department of Family Medicine, University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital (UPTH), Dr. Alex Akani.

A statement from the Public Relations Officer of the Medical and Dental Consultants Association, UPTH, Dr. Chukwuemeka Emmanuel, said Akani was abducted from his home in Rumuekini, Obio/Akpor Local Government Area of  the state.

The statement appealed to the state government and the security agencies to ensure the safe release of their colleague.

Reacting to the kidnap, Omoni said had command had intensified efforts for the safe rescue of the victim and the arrest of his abductors.