Family members of a missing 22-year-old man, Arinze Obiukwu, are asking the Rivers State Police Command to put pressure on a local vigilance group popularly known as OSPAC in Elele Ikwerre Local Government Area to produce him dead or alive.
The elder brother of the missing man, Ifeanyi Obiukwu, said Arinze was arrested on the 27th of April 2020 by members of the vigilance group and efforts to reach him or secure his bail has proved abortive since then.
He claimed the family is being threatened by some OSPAC members while some policemen have been inviting and intimidating them while asking for ‘settlement’ over their missing brother.
On how his brother was arrested, he said, ‘’On the 27th of April, 2020, along Elele roundabout, my brother Mr. Arinze Obiukwu was arrested by OSPAC operatives led by their Elele unit Chairman alias “Fucking Naira”, until now, no reason was given to us as a family by OSPAC for his arrest.
“My brother Mr. Arinze Obiukwu is 22 years old, single and runs a boutique business along the Elele road close to the roundabout, where he was abducted by the OSPAC operatives. My two sisters and I went together to OSPAC office at Elele and were directed to their Omoku head office where we met “Fucking Naira” who said that our brother’s case was transferred to Omoku.
“On getting to OSPAC head office at Omoku, we were told that there was no case of that nature and the name of my brother in their records. We then wrote a petition to State CID, Police headquarters, Moscow road, Port Harcourt where we were redirected to CP Monitoring team at Old GRA Port Harcourt.
‘’The CP Monitoring Team went for the arrest of “Fucking Naira” but he was nowhere to be found and one of the OSPAC operatives was arrested, who claimed that he was not aware of the arrest and was never part of it. As we pressed further, the case was transferred back to State CID, but my problem is that the kind of calls for settlement and threats to me and our entire family for asking to know what happened to our brother, that is why we came to Ohanaeze Ndigbo to help us look into this matter and to protect us as a family’.’
Meanwhile, the President of Ohaneze Ndigbo in Rivers state, Bartho Okere, has asked the Commissioner of Police, Joseph Mukan, to look into the disappearance Obiukwu to avoid a repeat of what happened to the late Chima Ikwunado and the Ikokwu 4.
Chief Okere also called on the police to look into the arrest of Obiukwu by the Elele OSPAC operatives.
According to him, “OSPAC is meant to help the Police with the job of maintaining law and order in the local areas, where they operate, and they are to hand over suspects to the police. Since 27th of April, 2020, Mr. Arinze Obiukwu is nowhere to be found, Ohanaeze Ndigbo will not allow anyone to treat any of our own unfairly and will stop at nothing to seek justice’’.
When contacted, “Fucking Naira” who spoke from his hideout and gave his name as Daniel Ihejimeru, claimed that missing boy was a known Kidnapper, and that several weapons was recovered from his shop upon arrest and that the boy was handed over to Police Division of Elele.
He said the matter has been taken over by the police and members of his group no longer have hands in it.
When contacted the State police public relations officer Nnamdi Omoni said investigation is ongoing and he would brief journalists later.
