This is a developing story…
It has been six years since Afamefuna Ozoemena, an Anambra State indigene, arrived in Lagos and disappeared after policemen arrested him.
In July 2024, FIJ first reported Ozoemena’s disappearance and efforts made to find him. At the time, some persons had claimed they saw him in a prison in Badagry, but lawyers checked there and did not find him.
FIJ sent his details to several formations of the police; the Police Complaints Response Unit (CRU), the Force Investigation Bureau (FIB) and the National Cybercrime Centre (NCCC), but six months later, the police are yet to find Ozoemena.
Muyiwa Adejobi, the Force Public Relations Officer (FPRO), told FIJ in 2024 that the Oshodi Task Force responsible for Ozoemena’s detention had a policeman at the helm of affairs, but was under the control of the Lagos State Government.
The CRU would later tell FIJ they filed a report with the office of the Lagos State Commissioner of Police (CP). Adegoke Fayoade was the CP at the time, and they said the State Command began investigating the May 19, 2024 arrest. As of Sunday, there had been no word on the progress.
READ MORE: Finding Afam: Lagos Police Took Him in 2019 but Can’t Produce Him Now
Olivia Joseph, Ozoemena’s niece, has continued to follow developments on the case as she and the rest of his family remain optimistic about his return.
HOW HE DISAPPEARED
Upon arriving in Lagos in February 2019 to seek greener pastures, Ozoemena began living with his elder sister, Olivia’s mother.
Three months later, he went out to his workplace at the New Bandalas Plaza, Balogun Market, Trade Fair. May 19 was the last time his family saw him.
News of Ozoemena’s arrest later got to them after a two-week search. This led them to the Agboju Police Station where they learnt that they were too late. The policemen there claimed they had transferred him to the Oshodi Task Force.
“What we did was file a report at the Trade Fair police station. There, a policeman told us he was taken to Agboju station,” Olivia told FIJ.
“We went there, but the police were hostile to us. One female officer pulled us aside, showed us Afam’s name in the register and told us one Inspector Toba was handling the case.”
Olivia explained to FIJ that Michael Ozoemena, Ozoemena’s uncle, approached Toba to ask about Ozoemena’s whereabouts. She said this policeman was dismissive and told them the man was no longer with them but with the Oshodi Task Force.
Did the police have a charge for which they arrested Ozoemena? “No,” Olivia told FIJ. “They told us we would find out when we got to the Task Force office.”
At the Oshodi Task Force, the family would hear something more bizarre than they expected.
“When we got to the Oshodi Task Force office and asked of him, no one could provide any information,” Olivia said. “Michael found out that, right there, there were lawyers who judged people who were not bailed by their relatives and sent them to prison.”
Everything went dark at this point. The Task Force would not acknowledge ever having Ozoemena in their custody or that he was transferred to prison. The Agboju station also swore they transferred him.
Despite several petitions to the police, it has been six years and they cannot account for Ozoemena’s whereabouts. Taken at 29, he would be 35 this year, but the void his absence has created in his family still begs for closure.
The post Finding Afam (II): The Man Lagos Police Detained in 2019 but Can’t Produce to Date appeared first on Foundation For Investigative Journalism.