By Funsho Arogundade
Three months after the mysterious disappearance of Awka, Anambra State-based real estate developer, Benjamin Ezema, his family and the entire community are yet to come to terms that their beloved is yet-to-be found. The estate developer, popularly known as Big Ben, was last seen sometime in November 2024 after he visited a friend’s office at an Estate in Awka. He was said to have been invited for a meeting with the friend, a real estate tycoon, at the latter’s office, but was never seen coming out of the building.
Days after his disappearance, a source said, the matter was reported to the Police in Awka who sprang into action. During their investigation, a close circuit television footage taken from businesses near the real estate firm and the exact office where Big Ben was last spotted, shows that the missing realtor arrived for the appointment by 3 p.m. and parked his car at the office entrance. But shortly after the meeting, he left for a hotel in Awka.
Later that same evening, after receiving a call at his hotel room, Big Ben was spotted on CCTV again leaving the hotel at 6:20pm and arrived at the same office in the estate before 7pm. Since then, he has not been found again. Meanwhile, the CCTV footage did not show him leaving the office in the estate, but instead an unknown person was seen to have driven his car into the premises. And by the next morning, the car was later discovered on a lonely road near Nwagwu community with no one inside. Although, after two months of investigation, the Anambra State Ministry of Justice has charged three suspects for kidnapping and felony, no one could say whether Big Ben is alive or not.