From Aloysius Attah, Onitsha
The last three months has been traumatic for the Okoyeigwe family of Iruowele village, Awka-Etiti community, Idemili South LGA, Anambra State.
A daughter of the family, Amarachi Favour Okoyeigwe and her son, Munachi, have been missing since May 8, 2022.
Amarachi, 16, had a son out of wedlock and has been in her father’s house under the care of her grandmother, Mrs Augustina Okoyeigwe, nursing the baby boy who is presently one year and three months old .
Her devastated grandmum, Augustina, a retired staff of the Anambra State Broadcasting Service, ABS, has been crestfallen since the unfortunate incident as she has been practically everywhere seeking for assistance to enable her set her eyes on her daughter and the lovely son once more.
Following intensive investigation, it was revealed that Amarachi and her son were trafficked to Ghana by a man whose identity is still a subject of controversy, but was said to be a commercial motorcyclist that resided in Awkaetiti .
Though the culprit was arrested and detained and he confessed to have actually taken the mother and son away, his promise to bring them back within three days seems to be fading into oblivion going by the present circumstances on ground in the matter.
Speaking to Sunday Sun on the circumstances surrounding the disappearance of Amarachi and her son, the father, Ogugua Okoyeigwe recalled that he came home after the day’s hustle on the night of May 8, 2022 and was told that Amarachi and her son were not at home and no one could say their exact whereabouts.
“I thought that she may have visited another relation and decided to pass the night there, but I was aghast when I returned the next evening and was told that she was not home yet. We started searching for her frantically seeking her friends and enquiring from any possible link from then onwards until it dragged from days to weeks.
“It was one of her female friends that squealed that she saw her with one guy known as Zuma . I don’t know the guy from Adam, but further investigation later revealed that he actually had discussions with my daughter and eventually took her and her son away.
My world is crashed says Grandmum
Amarachi’s grandmum, Mrs Augustina Okoyeigwe who has been crestfallen since the incident happened told Sunday Sun that the day Amarachi was last seen, she called her on phone around 8:00p.m, when she failed to return having warned her not to keep late nights more so when she was still nursing her baby, but her phone rang out without her picking it.
She said other times she called the phone line that night was the same no response until it started saying switched off till today.
Madam Okoyeigwe said that on further enquiries from one of Amara’s friend, she revealed that Amara told her that a man, an Okada rider asked her to accompany her on an errand somewhere, but she did not reveal the exact location of where they were going to.
She said further enquiries revealed that the guy whose real name is Nzube was an Okada rider whose parents resided at Amichi, but they hailed originally from Ngwa in Abia State.
“He is known as Isinaegbuagu (the head that slaughters the leopard} while others call him Zuma or Zoma while those who knew him at close range said he is a cultist with a bad record in the society,” she said.
Mrs Okoyeigwe said that she practically lived in the streets in their frantic search for Zuma and was also warned severally to be careful because of the young man’s antecedents.
Search for Zuma, arrest and detention
Mrs Okoyeigwe said that they first reported to their kindred and village chairman before going full blast to the police and other law enforcement agencies. They also sought the assistance of their townsman and big brother, Chief Joe Martins Uzodike, a lawyer and politician and with intensified efforts to track the guy until he was apprehended.
She said they obtained his picture which actually helped to confirm his identity by the vigilante operatives who eventually arrested him and he confessed during interrogation that he took her daughter and son away.
In a recorded video viewed by the reporter, the suspect, Zuma, stoutly built with tattoo all over his body was seen confessing and confirming that he was the one that took Amarachi and her son away.
He said that he handed her over to a lady who paid him N30, 000 and took them to Ghana. He pleaded in the video to be set free, promising that he will make calls and they (Amarachi and her baby) will return to Awka-Etiti within three days.
From three days to infinity
Chairman of Iruowele village, Awka-Etiti, Patrick Nwokeike, who gave graphic details of what transpired when they got information about the missing daughter and her son, said that the entire community was traumatised over the incident.
He said that he contacted the community vigilante commander when the matter was reported to the village union and they went to work immediately.
“The vigilante operative confirmed that they knew him when they saw his picture and they really worked round the clock and got him arrested. I told the vigilante commander that we won’t waste time keeping him when he was arrested because his arrest generated uproar mostly among his cronies and alleged fellow cult boys.
“That was how we handed him over to the Nnobi Police Station. Police told us that they can’t keep him for so long in their custody, but rather that he will be transferred to the Awka headquarters. After all back and forth, the police also told us that since the case is connected to the issue of suspected trafficking, that the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) should take over the matter.
NAPTIP takes over, releases suspect on bail and he bolted away
Nwokeike said that the matter continued to drag endlessly while they were not making any headway in securing the recovery of the missing Amarachi and her son whom the suspect, Zuma, had already admitted keeping and sending them to Ghana.
He said that the entire community became aghast when NAPTIP told them that they don’t have the facility to continue detaining Zuma.
He said that while Zuma was in custody, he (Zuma) had the effrontery to call the Awka Etiti security commander and told him that things are being sorted out and that he will breath the air of freedom soon because there is an influential clergyman who has agreed to sign bail bond for him.
“He was actually bragging to our security commander from his detention centre in Awka and we all became terribly worried. Our worst fear was confirmed when we heard that he was eventually freed. The NAPTIP official we spoke to when we heard that he has been released confirmed it and said that he was taken on bail because his offence was bailable. When we reminded the NAPTIP official that the matter is a serious one bordering on kidnapping or even murder because we are not sure whether Amara and her son are still alive, she said that the person who signed his bail can produce him anytime.
More investigations
Nwokeike further told Sunday Sun that the prime suspect, Zuma confessed that he handed Amara and her son over to a lady from Nnewi who reportedly took them to Ghana. He said that further enquiries by the community intelligence unit revealed that the lady from Nnewi is a renowned prostitute who is reportedly neck deep in trafficking for sex slavery syndicate.
Public Relations Officer of Iruowele village, Awka-Etiti, Malachy Ebere Udegbuman, while lamenting the situation they have found themselves presently over the incident said that all the stakeholders involved in pursuing justice over the matter are presently living in fear because no one knows the next move of the freed suspect and his gang.
He said that it was the spirit of being each other’s brother’s keeper in their village in Awka-Etiti that made all of them in the village union to get involved in the case when Amara and her son were reported missing.
“We’ve not had any sound sleep in the night since this incident happened. We are talking of two full bloodied human beings who are our people and no one knows their fate for the past three months. But the greatest fear now is about our lives too because the freed suspect was bragging that he is untouchable. There is the tendency that the man will come for us on a revenge mission. We are crying out for help now because we need the missing mother and child alive while we also want our safety guaranteed,” he said.
The vigilante commander, Emmanuel Ogbuwelu in his own contribution expressed sadness that all the efforts they made as community security to apprehend the culprit in the matter may become a wasted effort if the law enforcement agencies allow the suspect to go just like that while those missing are yet to be found.
Ogbuwelu confirmed that the suspect called him on phone while in detention and told him that a clergyman from Amichi and his mother signed bail bond for him to regain freedom.
Ritual murder suspected
The community members are confused and angry presently, saying that they are suspecting that Amara and her son might have been killed for ritual purposes. Nwokike who posited this view said they were tempted to think in that direction because no one has heard Amara’s voice anywhere in the past three months.
“If she is still alive with her son, even if she is under captivity or forced slavery, she would have called her father, mother or grandmother who has been the one taking care of them on phone even for one minute. She might even conceal her location, but at least one minute call would have doused the tension and doubt whether she was still alive or not. Only God can say her fate presently, but as humans, we doubt that she is still alive until proven otherwise,” he said.
Justice will be done though delayed –NAPTIP official
When the reporter contacted a task force member of NAPTIP in Anambra State identified as Chizaram, she confirmed that NAPTIP is handling the matter and that Nzube (Zuma) has been released on bail, but assured that justice will still be served on the matter no matter how long it takes.
“Trafficking and abuse is bailable, but if our system is working well, it’s not bailable, but the point is that these things take some process before it works out. A clergyman and a top civil servant signed his bail. It doesn’t work with fire brigade approach. If the suspect is killed in this circumstance, you can’t locate his victim again. We shall follow due process and will succeed at last,” she assured.