Gunshots were heard in the Woji area of Port Harcourt on Monday night as some youths who had resumed protests clashed with the police.
The youths were seen throwing broken bottles and stones at the police as tires were set on fire on the streets of Woji to protest the death of Nyebuchi Eze, whose body was recovered after days of disappearance while in the custody of the police officer in charge of surveillance.
It was gathered that a tenant whose landlord, the late Nyebuchi, had thrown his property out of his home after a dispute invited the surveillance officer.
The landlord disappeared afterward. It took the intervention of the Woji Council of Chiefs to draw police attention to the situation and demand that the police officer reveal where he had hidden the body.
The officer and the tenant were taken into custody afterward. On Monday, in the company of four Woji chiefs and the family of the late Nyebuchi, the police recovered Nyebuchi’s body from an uncompleted building in Chokocho, Etche, miles away from the police division that arrested him.
Scores of angry youths blocked the road in the Woji area afterward. A former youth president of the community, Ken Owhor, told Nigeria Info that the recovery of Nyebuchi’s body sparked another protest in the community because the corpse was found in bad condition.
Earlier, the Paramount ruler of the community, Eze Emeka Ihunwo, told Nigeria Info that the body had head, jaw, and other injuries, showing that he was beaten before his death.
He, however, called on the youth of the community to maintain peace, saying justice would be served.
The protesters initially left the road after the elder brother of the deceased, a former chairman of Obio/Akpor Local Government Area, Solomon Abel Eke, spoke to them.
They had protested on Saturday, demanding the body. The case is currently before the State Criminal Investigation Department.
When contacted, the police promised to get back to our correspondent on this.
