Over the years, many Nigerians have disappeared without any trace. Assistant Editors Dare Odufowokan, Yetunde Oladeinde and Joke Kujenya examine this worrying phenomenon.
LOSING a relative or a loved one to death can be traumatic. It is, however, worse when such people are missing and you are not sure whether they are dead or alive. This is what happens to people who learn that those they treasure so much have vanished.
All over the world, frantic efforts have been made by friends, relatives and loved ones of missing people in the past. Reported and known cases are taken seriously and followed up to ensure that they are found. A few weeks back, protesters took over streets in Islamabad, Pakistan over the case of some missing persons.
In the developed countries, experts and forensic anthropologists put in so much effort to unravel such cases. Painstakingly, the efforts are seen by cataloguing skeletal remains, putting bone and skull samples together to confirm the status of those who have disappeared in different circumstances. Even when the answer is negative the next stage would be to store the evidence in a data of national missing persons system where medical examiners and the police can have access to continue the investigations from time to time.
This is only possible where proper records of missing persons are kept. On the Interpol website, pictures, age, country, colour of hair, eye and sex of missing persons are clearly displayed. When the search is consistent, it is likely that the missing folks are found, most times in locations far away from home.
According to John Amadi, 48, “I went for a vigil in church one night and I had barely spent two hours when my wife called to tell me that our first son was missing. He stepped out to buy something in the neighbourhood and to her amazement he did not return home.” He continued, “We combed the neighbourhood for three days and we had almost lost hope when somebody called to say they had found a boy somewhere on the expressway. We rushed there and found my son. He had been picked by ritualists but somehow they abandoned him on the express for some reasons known to them. We thank God for sparing his life because not everybody is that lucky.”
Missing in action
Like the Amadi, Gbolahan recalls how his friend and classmate who was missing some years back came back home two weeks later. “He was my close friend and we did a lot of things together. One night his mother came to our house in tears, she told my parents that they had been looking for him all day and wondered if he was in our house. They realised he was not with me and everyone was very sad. They travelled to their town to see if he ran away to his grandfather but they just could not find him anywhere. Then one day he came home with half of the hair on his head shaved off and he looked really awful. His mind was blank and just could not remember anything, but from his appearance, everyone knew that he must have been kidnapped.”
A large number of those who got missing in the country are never found, or better still, to use the ever optimistic parlance of the police authorities, are yet to be found. Even eminent and famous personalities have been on the missing list for years now with little or no progress made in locating them in spite of efforts by agencies, friends and families.
The puzzling disappearance of James Bolarinwa Olomo, a professor of Nuclear Physics at the Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile-Ife, Osun State, since last year is one of such troubling high profile “missing person” cases. He reportedly left home on October 17, 2013, and flew to Calabar on an Arik Air flight from where he travelled by road to Eket, Akwa Ibom State. In Eket, he reportedly lodged at Hotel Farlem. His mission was to fulfil a scheduled obligation with Mobil Oil Unlimited, a multinational oil company where he was its Radiation Safety Adviser. He reportedly left his hotel room on October 20 without taking any of his belongings and has not been found since then.
Efforts to locate him have been futile. Led by the Olomo family of Risawe Anlerin Compound in Otan Ayegbaju area of Osun State, relatives, friends and colleagues are unrelenting in their quest to find out what happened to him. His family has consistently addressed the media alongside the family lawyer to express their grave concerns over the disappearance of their illustrious son and breadwinner. The ASUU chapter of OAU led by Prof. Akinola Adegbola has not been left out. The union equally organised a media parley in Lagos to sensitise the public and call government’s attention to the perceived lacklustre handling of the plight of Olomo. But in spite of all these efforts, nothing concrete has been heard about the missing egg-head.
Nearly two years after popular television presenter Alhaji Razaq Gawat went missing, the Lagos State Police Command still describes his disappearance as a mystery. Gawat, anchorman of an Islamic TV programme during Ramadan, E didè e ji sari, which is broadcast on Nigerian Television Authority, Channel 10, reportedly went missing around Apongbon end of Eko Bridge, Lagos Island on July 10, 2012.
The Lagos State Police Commissioner, Mr. Umaru Manko, recently said the Command had worked on Gawat’s case for months without any success as to how or where to find him. He said, “The case is a mystery. There’s nothing that we didn’t do to find Gawat. For months, we worked on Gawat’s case up till the end of last year; the State Director of the SSS and I were on it. At every Security Council meeting, we discussed Gawat. Even the governor was so concerned that every lead he got on the case, he communicated to us.”
Gawat’s car was parked neatly on the bridge, giving the impression that he had gone somewhere and was coming back. The vehicle, a 4Runner black Toyota SUV with number plate RE 77 AAA, was found on the Eko Bridge by officials of the Lagos State Traffic Management Authority. The General Manager of the Lagos State Traffic Management Authority, Mr. Babatunde Edu, had said Gawat’s vehicle was parked very close to the kerb, while its hazard light was on.
His wife, Fatimat, who is still hoping he would be found, said efforts towards locating him appear fruitless so far. In most cases, relatives and friends of the missing persons are left to bear the frustration of seeming endless searches until they get fagged out and lose all hopes of ever being re-united with their loved ones. And once that happens and they stop asking the security agencies questions about the case, the issue is soon forgotten; what with scores of fresh cases happening on a daily basis?
Some of the frustrating efforts can be found in newspaper advertisement, public announcements on radio, televisions and posters while relatives throng police stations to report just to find a clue. Dead or alive? Sadly for many, there are no words on the status of these missing persons or their whereabouts, leaving friends, guardians and loved ones frustrated and depressed.
One of such is a newspaper advert dated Monday, March 4, 2013. It reads: “The management of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corp (NNPC) regrets to announce the mysterious disappearance of its staff, Mr. Sylvester Emefiele. He is suspected to have been abducted by unknown persons at Gwagwalada Area Council on Sunday, 23rd September, 2012. Mr. Sylvester Emefiele is 38 years of age, average height; dark in complexion. The NNPC is soliciting the cooperation of the general public with useful information that could lead to the whereabouts of Sylvester to contact Mr. Best Dulagha, Manager Security, Information and Investigations.”
Also searching for a loved one are the siblings and relatives of Maria Mawulapo, 15. Painstakingly, they have been combing the nooks and crannies for the whereabouts of the four feet tall teenager who speaks Yoruba and English fluently. Any information about the girl who is dark skinned should therefore be directed to: “Asisat Soremekun of No 64, old Abeokuta Road, Agege or Isokoko Police Station.” Each time there is a knock on the door at No 26, Abbey Street, Egbe, Ikotun Lagos, Uchechi Nkoro’s heart leaps, praying and believing that a lost loved one would saunter in.
Still searching
Would she come back home again? These and so many other questions are being asked by her friends and family members. Like Nkoro, everyone is enthusiastically waiting to be told that 16-year-old Mary Gift Onyebuchi has been found. Sadly, the truth is that this dark complexioned girl, who also stands at four feet tall, has joined the long list of missing persons in the country. Abibu Orisanmi, 20 and Tunde Fidelis, 24, who are both deaf and dumb are also missing.
Another is a 38-year-old printer, Olaide Shittu. He lived at No 13, Alfa Aminu Street, Shomolu, Lagos. He disappeared on April 24.
Speaking to The Nation at the weekend, Shittu’s wife, Rukayat, 29, a mother of three and a ticket vendor with LAGBUS, said: “Since my husband got missing four months ago, life has been difficult for me and my children. He is our breadwinner. Our three children are in school and it has not been easy giving them basic needs. He told me he was going to the office on the fateful day. He gave us money to buy materials we needed in the house but he never came back to see those things. I called his number immediately after the football match was concluded but it was switched off. Since then, we have been searching for him. If he was kidnapped, I beg the kidnappers to release him because of our children. Life has been difficult without my husband. Though Olaide’s family members have been trying for me and my children, nothing is sweeter than seeing my husband at home. Please, help us.”
Shittu’s aged aunt, Alhaja Ramotallahi Odekunle, who has a partial stroke on her right hand, said: “His aged father, who is my younger brother, is seriously sick now because of the sudden disappearance of his son. Olaide came in to greet me on the morning of Tuesday, April 24. We chatted for a while before he left for work. He was a printer in Magodo area. According to what his boss later told us, Olaide left his place of work with other staff after office hours. Then, because he is a football lover, we were told, he stopped at a football viewing centre in the area to watch a match between Chelsea and Barcelona. That was the last time his colleagues at his work place said they saw of him. When we discovered that he didn’t come back to the house, we called his boss to ask if our son was still at work. The boss said Olaide left for house and other people in the press office confirmed that they left the place with Olaide the previous night.
“We later heard that policemen raided the area after the match because of the fracas between fans of the football clubs but we could not say if he was among the people arrested. We visited all the police stations around Magodo, but Olaide’s name was not registered among those detained. We also visited various hospitals in Lagos, but never saw anyone that looked like him. Since then, we have been going from one television station to another, all to no avail. As we were crying over our missing son, we also heard that Alhaji Gawat of NTA was also declared missing. At this point, I was shocked. How could people get lost like that and, months after, nothing would be heard of the person again? Yet they told us that there is government and security. Olaide was our breadwinner. If his was a case of kidnap, nobody has contacted us to bring money. You press people should please help us to find our son and appeal to the government to strengthen security before everybody in Nigeria is declared missing.”
There are also cases of those who have been missing for years. One of such is Olumide Adelogba. For five years, his mother, Mrs. Olayinka Adelogba, 68, has waited for his return to their Federal Housing Estate, Ipaja, Lagos suburb home. She told The Nation that only death could make her get over Olumide’s disappearance.
The statistics of missing persons, where available, are scary. In Lagos, about 40 people have been declared missing this year already. In 2010, about 258 persons were declared missing after several fruitless searches by their families and the police. About 156 of those missing were male. Females make up 102. A police source said a large percentage of the missing persons comprised mostly young people between ages 12 and 27. Those within the 40s and above are very few. He also said contrary to the notion that more people get missing in December, the 2010 record of the last months of the year showed a decrease in the number of missing people.
In the data provided, 16 people went missing in December of 2010 and 15 in October. He also noted that besides the 258 police recorded in their data base, the actual number could be more because some families did not report such disappearances to the police for lack of confidence.
Cases of missing persons are not limited to Lagos. In Abia State, 16 persons were declared missing between January and May. According to the police, of the 16 persons declared missing, six persons were found alive. One person, Miss Peace Udeala, a trainee nurse and a native of Uratha in Isiala Ngwa Local Government Area of Abia State, was discovered dead. The ages of the victims are between two and 28 years. The police said cases of missing persons were rampant in areas such as Umuahia North and South and Isiala North and South local government.
“The unique thing about these incidents is that most of the victims are house-helps. The information we have is that a majority of them run away from home over any little provocation. One of the victims just felt like running away to an unknown destination and did not inform the people he was living with. The nurse that was found dead was said to have received a call that invited her somewhere to treat a patient,” police said.
In Ondo State, 30 persons were declared missing between 2010 and August 2012. Data from the state’s Police Command stated that in 2010, nine persons were declared missing. There was one case in February, two in March, one in May, one each in July and August. The other three were declared missing between October, November and December. In 2011, eleven persons were declared missing. Between January and August 2012, three persons were declared missing. The first case was in March. Two were recorded in April. June and July had two persons reportedly missing. In 2013, the figure rose to 23 while this year so far, eight people entered the missing, not found list in the state.
And in one single frightening swoop, about 200 girls joined the gory list from the troubled Borno State in the north eastern zone of the country when militant Islamic sect fighters made away with them from their hostel in a secondary school premises. The Nigerian military has admitted that most of the 129 girls abducted by Boko Haram Islamists from their school in the country’s restive northeast remained missing.
A week after they were abducted, the military announced that all but eight of the girls snatched from their school managed to escape, contrary to the position of the state government and the school principal.
“The defence headquarters wishes to defer to the school principal and governor’s statement on the number of students still missing,” Defence Ministry spokesman, Chris Olukolade, said in a statement on Friday. He said that vigilance groups and hunters were assisting the authorities in the frantic search for the girls, who were grabbed from the Government Girls Secondary School in the Chibok area of Borno State. Till the time of filing this report, the “efforts” are yet to yield any fruit as the girls’ names continue to occupy spaces on the “missing people” list.
There are so many stories but the most important thing is that the government needs to put in a better strategy to guarantee the safety of people and a data base that would make it easy to trace those who are missing.
An endlessly growing list
Sadly, the list of missing and not found persons continues to grow on a daily basis. And at the end of each year, the police authorities are forced to compile as “keep in view”, scores and scores of unresolved missing cases. The Nation was able to get a list of Missing Persons between Jan and Aug 2013.
On the gory list is Ayobami Jaiyeola, 29, former National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) member with the Lagos State government, last seen leaving her elder sister’s house at Dideolu Estate, Lekki, Lagos Island, since 2013. Somto Orji, 18, and dumb, is also on the list. He has been missing since the afternoon of November 29, was last seen leaving his 14, Akin Osiyemi Street, off Allen Avenue, Lagos mainland, home. According to the mother, he was not born dumb but he suddenly lost his ability to speak at the age of seven after convulsing. He was hyperactive and had to leave school because he couldn’t write and understand sign language but could hear.
Miss Augustina Ilevbare, a 14-year-old student of Command Children Primary School, Ikeja Military Cantonment, Lagos mainland, was last seen on Monday, August 5. She had lived with her father, Peter Ilevbare, a lance corporal with the Nigerian Army at 9, Brigade Garrison, Ikeja Cantonment, CBQ 75, Room 14, since 1999. He said the girl left home without telling anyone where she was going. Also, Ayomide Omope, 19, and autistic, was reported missing in January 2013. He was last seen on Thursday, January 31.
But according to the Force Public Relations Officer, Mr. Frank Mba, “Not everyone that is not immediately found or whose whereabouts are still in doubt, for a particular number of hours or days, can be said to be a missing person.” He gave instances of many who maltreat their house helps and report at police stations immediately such helps disappear so as not to be on the foul side of the law. Under the law, no one can be declared missing until such a person is not found after twenty-four hours.
Is the police adequately equipped to find missing persons? That is the question many are asking today.
