Ex-Nigeria scrabble captain Sodje killed delivering ransom to brother’s abductors

A former captain of Nigeria scrabble team, Paul Sodje, has died after he was abducted and killed by suspected herdsmen.

Chairman of the Nigeria Scrabble Federation, Publicity Committee, Akintunde Akinsemola, told a Nigerian daily, The Punch that Sodje’s body was found inside the bush in Idoani, Ose Local Government Area of Ondo State, September 1.

Sodje was said to have taken ransom to the kidnappers, who had abducted his brother, Chris, four days earlier.

Akinsemola told The PUNCH: “Chris was going for his uncle’s funeral in Okwagbe, Delta State on August 28, when he was kidnapped at Ifon, Ondo State. The Fulani men demanded N100m but later reduced it to N1m.  His wife Flora and friends rallied round to raise the ransom.

“Then his elder brother Paul and a friend took the ransom to them, yet the Fulani men murdered the two of them. Chris has not been found and the kidnappers have stopped communicating with the family.

“Idoani elders led by Otunba Oladele Olapeju, who were searching for their kinsmen, who were also kidnapped, saw Paul Sodje’s body and that of the man that accompanied him to the herders rendezvous.

“They took the bodies to the Federal Medical Centre, Owo, where they still lie.”

The late Sodje, who would have been 55 on Wednesday (September 9th), captained Nigeria to the African Scrabble Championship in Zambia, 2012.

The scrabble federation held a virtual post-homous birthday for the late Sodje on Wednesday.