Family discovers remains of missing daughter in morgue

From Tony John, Port Harcourt

The recent discovery of the remains of 20-year-old Beauty Nwigbaranee, a final year student of the Department of Education, Rivers State University, in a morgue, has brought a fresh twist to the circumstances surrounding her sudden disappearance.

Sunday Sun gathered that Beauty had allegedly visited a Port Harcourt-based cleric identified as Pastor Sodje Masodje, on the day she went missing.

The lady’s family members believed that the deceased and the pastor were lovers.

They insisted that since December 25, 2020, when Beauty left home, nobody had heard from her. The family maintains that Pastor Masodje has a case to answer.

The cleric, who is the Senior Pastor of City of Angels International Ministries, Eneka, in Obio/Akpor Local Government Area of the state, was arrested by the operatives of Garrison of the 6 Division, Nigerian Army, Port Harcourt. He was later handed over to the Rivers State Police Command as requested by the family of the deceased.

However, Gobari Deebom, counsel for the family of the missing lady, told reporters that the remains of the missing lady were found in a mortuary in Ahoada Area of the State, on Wednesday.

Deebom said the family received reports that the remains of the lady were deposited at an undisclosed morgue in Ahoada on the 26th of December last year by an unknown person.

Deebom said the family visited the mortuary and have identified the corpse as that of their daughter, but wondered the reason the family was not alerted until 10 days after.

The counsel regretted that the remains of the lady had no bruises to link the death to be as a result of a ghastly motor accident.

‘The family was called that the remains of their daughter were at a mortuary in Ahoada. When we got there, we saw the body,’ he said.

‘The twist there now is that nobody has accepted that he brought the corpse there. The mortuary attendant we met said the corpse was brought by a policeman. He did not give us his name.

‘We are wondering how a policeman will bringing the corpse without living his details. Our people have gone there to get her picture, they mortuary attendants have refused such access”.

Deebom regretted that police had granted the suspect bail, while they have not concluded an investigation into the matter.

He called on the Inspector-General of Police to intervene in the matter and ensure that justice is giving to the family.

‘We are in shock that the pastor, who brought this girl out from her house and who is the prime suspect in this matter, has been granted bail,’ Deebom said.

‘We are calling on the IG of Police to use his good office to ensure that we get justice in this matter.’

Meanwhile, Beauty’s elder sister, Victoria, has insisted that the cleric had been dating the deceased for a long time, which her family members were aware of.

When Sunday Sun contacted the Rivers State Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Nnamdi Omoni, a Superintendent of Police (SP), he said the matter was under investigation.