By GABRIEL ENOGHOLASE, Benin
When a serving Police officer, Corporal Oni Olayinke, attached to the Lagos State Command left Lagos for Kaduna some time in April, 2011 to assist one Sunday Ogbu deliver a car to his customer, simply identified as Emma in the Northern City, little did he know that the journey would bring sorrow and tears to his aging father, Mr. Olayinke (Snr) who since the ill-fated journey, has not set eyes on his son.

A visibly disturbed Olayinke (Snr.) is now asking the Inspector- General of Police, Mr. Hafiz Ringim to step into the sudden disappearance of his son as he can not ascertain whether he was still alive or dead.

Corporal Oni Olayinka — Missing in action

He is alleging that Sunday Ogbu and one Chukwuma, a clearing agent who introduced his son to him including the so-called man in the North (Emma),  may have connived and masterminded the kidnap or sudden disappearance of his son and therefore appealed to the Inspector -General of police to wade into the matter with a view to bringing all those connected with the issue to book.

Mr. Olayinke (Snr.) in a petition to the Police boss through his counsel, Olayiwola Afolabi Esq. said  his son left Lagos for Kaduna to deliver the vehicle in question to Emma but on the way, the vehicle broke down.  Based on this, the Police officer reportedly called Sunday Ogbu on phone to explain his predicament and to text Emma’s number to him.

He explained that after his explanations, Emma instructed him to search for a mechanic workshop with a view to detecting the car’s fault and the amount of money needed to effect the repairs.  He disclosed that Corporal Olayinke did as he was instructed by Emma who later sent the sum of N20, 000 via a bank transaction as against the N17, 000 demanded by the said mechanic.

Continuing, he told the Police boss that the car soon broke down again, quite a few hours into the journey to Kaduna and this was again relayed to Emma who instructed his son to park the car at any nearby mechanic workshop with the instruction that he would personally be at Lokoja to ferry his vehicle to Kaduna.

The Police Corporal reportedly did as he was instructed by Emma and sent the telephone number of the owner of the mechanic workshop to him and there after, left for Lagos, he disclosed.  He however stated that when Emma got to Lokoja, he was refused access to the vehicle by the workshop owner and he had to make a frantic call to Corporal Olayinke to come to his aid and this he obliged.

“It is our further instruction that Oni Olayinke and Emma got to Kaduna with the car safely, but all of a sudden, Emma started to make strange phone calls and Oni Olayinke got worried as a stranger with no friends or relatives to call upon for help. He quickly flashed his friend in the Force who immediately called him to inquire about the position of things in Kaduna.

“After explaining his ordeal to him, his friend in turn called Chukwuma who also called Sunday Ogbu to inform him of what was happening in Kaduna.

Emma confirmed that all that the Corporal narrated to his friend were all true and assured Sunday Ogbu that he will release him after his friends in the Navy finished torturing him”, the Counsel said.

Later, Emma informed Sunday Ogbu that the Police Corporal left Kaduna around 10.30 pm,  and Sunday called Chukwuma to inform him also of the release of the Corporal.   However, unknown to Ogbu, Emma had deceived him because the Police officer was still held hostage in Kaduna by him for no justifiable reason.

Mr . Olayinka (Snr) told the Inspector- General of Police that all attempts made by him to reach his son on several occasions failed and he had to report the disappearance of his son to the Police at Gbanti Police Station.

He lamented that no proper investigation was carried out there while no attempt was made to arrest Sunday Ogbu who was the only link to Emma in Kaduna alleging that when Sunday Ogbu was eventually arrested with a view to ascertaining the whereabouts of his son,  Chukwuma’s father, a retired Police Officer, frustrated their efforts by using his position to release his son from the police station.

This, he further alleged, has denied the family of getting Ogbu as the only link who knew the whereabouts of the main suspect, Emma, in Kaduna.

He, however, disclosed that on 27th July 2011, Sunday Ogbu and Chukwuma were finally arrested and taken to Ikeja Police Station in Lagos in connection with the missing Police officer.

He therefore appealed to the Inspector- General of Police to intervene in the matter by directing that the case file involving the aforementioned persons be transferred from Ikeja Police Station Lagos to Abuja for proper investigation due to it’s controversial nature.

He also wants the police boss to use his office to ensure that Sunday Ogbu and Emma were brought to book and that all those involved in the alleged kidnapping of his son be properly investigated with a view to ascertaining their connivance and complicity in the matter.