Two police officers attached to the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) of the Osun State Police Command, Mr. Paul Egundeyi and Mrs. Ayowole Adebimpe Ruth have been declared missing after embarking on an official assignment to Abia State.
Both Egundeyi and Ayowole, according to their family members, communicated with their spouses on the 12th of February, 2024when they had a stop-over and lodged at a hotel in Asaba before proceeding with their journey on the 13th of February, 2024.
However, attempts to reach them on phone since that time have been futile and no one could ascertain their whereabout.
The families said they had contacted some of their colleagues and their bosses at the Osun State Police Command to ascertain the situation of the police officers, but no meaningful response was given.
One of the team members who traveled to Abia State from the state police command together with the other police officers for the same assignment was said to have returned to the state but was unwilling to speak with the family of the missing police officers.
Also, the State Commissioner of Police was said not to have made any official statement on the whereabout of the missing police officers, leaving the families in the dark.
To this end, the families of the two missing police officers have appealed to the Inspector General of Police to investigate the matter with a view to discovering their exact location and reunite them with their families.
The wife of Egundeyi, Funmilola, who nurses a five-month old baby, said she has suffered serious depression and anxiety as a result of the development, stating that her husband’s whereabouts are a major source of concern to her and every other member of the family.
Devastated by the ugly development, Mrs. Egundeyi had made frantic efforts to reach out to others who traveled with her husband for the same assignment but to no avail. Efforts to get a response about her inquiry from the State CID where her husband works proved abortive. Additionally, the officer who returned (the escapee), whose name is Officer Sodiq, was hidden from them. They have not seen him nor heard from him about the incident.
Both the families of Egundeyi and Ayowole appealed to the Inspector General of Police to investigate the matter and get to its root so that the missing police officers can be found and reunited with their families.
The families said it is the responsibility of the Nigeria Police Force to find the missing police officers, as they were their officers and were engaged in an official assignment when they were attacked by hoodlums.
They called on well-meaning Nigerians to also prevail upon the Nigeria Police Force to expedite actions on discovering their loved ones who have been missing for almost two months.
