For more than a decade, civilians in Nigeria have faced multiple security threats and risk of atrocities as result of attacks, kidnappings and extortion by various non-state armed groups.
ABUJA – The body of the former Director of Administration of Nigeria’s ruling political party, All Progressives Congress (APC), late Dr. Abdul-Rauf Adekunle Adeniji has been found and exhumed by security operatives.
Dr. Abdul Rauf Adeniji who was kidnapped weeks ago, was reportedly murdered last month by his abductors after a ₦50 million ransom was reportedly received by the assailants, with the ruling party shutting down its national secretariat popularly known as Buhari House in the country’s capital Abuja, to mourn the deceased official.
In an April 14, 2025 memo titled ‘Secretariat closure for the mourning of the director of administration’, the ruling party stated that the closure of the secretariat would take effect on Monday, April 14, 2025 and advised all the staff to use the mourning period for sober reflection and prayers for the family and the loved ones.
The memo reads, “The National Secretary has approved the closure of the National secretariat from all party/work activities with immediate effect till Monday 14th April 2025.
”This decision was made after he had received the news of the sad demise of the Director of Administration, the Late Hon. AbdulRauf Adekunle Adeniji.”
The Ẹgbẹ́ Ọmọ Ilé-Ifẹ̀ in Germany also mourned the deceased, according to a flyer made available to KOIKI Media on Thursday.
However, on Thursday, 17 April, an official, Hon.Tunji Owojori, Secretary, APC Ife Federal Constituency Ad-hoc Committee on Hon Adekunle Adeniji, said the body of the deceased was found where he was buried and exhumed by the Nigerian security forces.
Owojori said in a statement that the body of the deceased would be brought to Ile-Ife and other burial arrangements would be communicated to the public accordingly.
The burial arrangement will be held on Thursday, 17th April, 2025 at the Ife City Hall, Enuwa, Ile Ife by 8:00 am while special prayer will hold at Ife Central Mosque, Enuwa, Ile-Ife and final burial service at Islamic burial ground by 9:00 am, around Oduduwa university, Ilesha Bye-Pass, Ile-Ife by 10:00 am.
The statement thanks everyone “for solidarity, understanding and cooperation and appreciates the security forces and all National and State party leaders in ensuring this development to be successful.
“May this never happen again in our midst as a family, party and community at large”, Owojori prayed.
INSECURITY AND VIOLENCE IN NIGERIA
For more than a decade, civilians in Nigeria have faced multiple security threats and risk of atrocities as result of attacks, kidnappings and extortion by various non-state armed groups.
Armed groups and gangs, including so-called “bandits,” have – for many years – perpetrated widespread atrocities, including murder, rape, kidnapping, organized cattle-rustling and plunder. Armed herdsmen are also destroying vast swaths of farmland, prompting many farmers to abandon their land out of fear of attack.
At least 50 people were killed while many others were injured in a Palm Sunday attack by assailants said to be Fulani herdsmen in a community in Nigeria’s north-central state of Plateau, in an attack believed by many as an ethnic cleansing agenda.
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