The family of the late King of Akpor Kingdom in Obio/Akpor Local Government Area, Rivers State, King Anele Orlu Oriebe, has pleaded with Governor Nyesom Wike to allow them exhume the body of the monarch for a befitting burial.

They explained that their king was buried by the government in line with the COVID-19 protocol on the grounds that he tested positive to the coronavirus pandemic.

They lamented that their father was interred in a government cemetery without the knowledge of the kingdom.

They, however, insisted that their king did not die of COVID-19, but that he gave up the ghost following complications arising from an accident.

The family head, Elder Kingsley Kinika Orlu, condemned the government for burying the Akpor king in a shameful manner.

Orlu said it was a taboo in Ikwerre land for a king to be buried outside his kingdom and called on patriotic individuals to prevail on the government to allow them to excavate the grave of the king and pick some of his bones to conduct traditional burial rites.

He said: “There was no test carried out to prove that he had COVID-19. It was when he died that we saw three men, who came to the mortuary to take his sample. We did not see the test result.

“This is unbelievable. Even if it is his bone, they should give us for burial. It is no longer speculation that he has been buried.”

Orlu lamented that COVID-19 team was yet to visit the deceased family for contact tracing or testing, adding that decontamination of the compound had not been carried out.