A former All Progressives Grand Alliance candidate for governor of Enugu State in the just completed 2023 general elections has been discovered dead.
Dons Ude, the deceased, was reported missing last Saturday.
According to reports, Mr. Ude’s body was discovered near Ninth Mile Corner in the Enugu State (southeast Nigeria) local government area of Udi.
It was also claimed that his car had been found.
Sudden disappearance
Mr Ude apparently wasn’t returning calls to his phone line before he was reported missing, which sparked worries that he could have been kidnapped.
He served as the state’s Peoples Democratic Party’s secretary in the past.
According to sources, his phone was subsequently discovered beside the Ogui Police Station’s wall. This heightened concerns that he may be in jeopardy.
Later, Ude’s wife, who had been attempting to contact him on the phone, was notified that the phone had been located.
According to reports, the distraught woman went to the station and complained that she couldn’t get through to her husband on the phone.
According to authorities, it is now unclear whether the lawmaker was a kidnapped victim.
In a statement on Wednesday night, the police spokesman for Enugu State, Daniel Ndukwe, confirmed the politician’s death.
The victim’s decaying corpse was discovered in a bush near Ninth Mile Bypass on Tuesday at about 11:00 p.m., according to Mr Ndukwe, a deputy superintendent of police.
The victim was reported missing on Saturday after leaving his home in the Enugu city in a white Toyota Highlander SUV for an unspecified place. The police spokeswoman also verified this.
The car was subsequently discovered abandoned and retrieved today, April 26, at about 10 a.m. near Ngwo in Udi Local Government Area, he added. “All efforts made to trace his whereabouts proved futile, until his remains were found on the said date and location,” he said.
According to Mr. Ndukwe, the victim’s corpse had signs of violence, which “strongly suggests that he was murdered.”
He said that when a doctor at a hospital declared the victim dead, the corpse was placed in a mortuary for preservation and a medical autopsy.
According to Mr. Ndukwe, Ahmed Ammani, the Enugu State Police Commissioner, has sent police officers from the Homicide Section of the State Criminal Investigation Department and Tactical Squads to look into the Dons Uche’s murder.
Mr. Ammani instructed the agents to pool their resources in order to find the murderers “within the shortest possible time,” according to Premium Times
Increased attacks
Enugu State has seen a decline in security, similar to other states in the southeast of Nigeria, as a result of a rise of armed assailants.
Attacks often target government personnel, security agencies, and facilities.
The unlawful Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) have been blamed by the Nigerian government for the fatal assaults in the area. However, the gang has always denied taking part in the assaults.
A organisation known as IPOB is pushing for the creation of an independent state of Biafra from sections of south-eastern and south-south Nigeria.
