Families of the two Ministry of Defence staff who were not released alongside their freed colleagues have raised urgent concerns as they continue to demand answers about the women’s whereabouts.
Six female staff of the Ministry were kidnapped on November 9 at Kabba while travelling from Lagos to Abuja for a promotional examination. They had boarded a bus owned by Andy Liz Motors Limited at First Gate, Festac, Lagos.
The kidnapped women were identified as Mrs Ngozi Ibeziakor, Mrs Catherine Essien, Mrs Helen Ezeakor, Mrs C.A. Ladoye, Mrs Juliana Onwuzurike and Mrs Chinwe Adline Emeribe. After ransom was paid, four were released, but Mrs Chinwe Adline Emeribe and Mrs Juliana Onwuzurike were not among them.
A Ministry of Defence staff member, who requested anonymity, explained that the kidnappers instructed that the ransom be delivered by a driver from the transport company whose vehicle the women had boarded. The driver was instructed to return the victims to the Festac park where the journey had begun. When he returned alone, families waiting at the park questioned him and he claimed he had dropped each released woman at her preferred bus stop close to home. He said only four women had been released to him.
According to the Ministry staff, there has been no information about the missing two since then. He expressed frustration that the Ministry was not taking sufficient action to locate the missing women or support their families. He questioned why the driver who escaped during the kidnapping, as well as the driver who delivered the ransom, had not been thoroughly questioned.
He also criticised the sudden change in exam arrangements. He explained that the promotional exam had recently been converted to computer-based testing, allowing it to be written from any location to reduce risks to civil servants. Despite this, staff were suddenly instructed to travel to Abuja, and no additional stipend was provided to support their travel. He said the lack of funding forced staff to go by road. “They would have taken flight if they were given money but they had to go by road because they were paying out of pocket,” he lamented.
Speaking to LIB, Mr Nnamdi Emeribe, husband of missing Mrs Chinwe Adline Emeribe, said efforts to obtain information that could help locate his wife have been repeatedly frustrated. He explained that they contacted Command Secondary School, Ojo, where his wife is assigned, but received no meaningful assistance. He said the Ministry of Defence had also abandoned them.
After his wife and her colleague failed to return with the others, he and family members reported the matter to police in Festac, who informed them that the case had been transferred to Panti. They visited Panti on November 26 but made no progress. He said the Anti-Kidnapping Unit told them that the transport company had sent a lawyer who claimed there were no suspects.
While they were at Panti, the officer in charge attempted to contact the company’s lawyer to invite him and the two drivers involved—the driver who escaped during the kidnapping and the one who delivered the ransom—but the lawyer did not answer his calls.
Attempts to gather information from the freed women have also been unsuccessful, as their families said they were in the hospital recovering from trauma.
Mr Emeribe expressed deep disappointment that neither the Ministry of Defence, Command Secondary School Ojo, nor the union representing the staff have provided any assistance or resources. He said: “Ministry of Defence where they work, nobody has heard anything from them, nothing. They are not showing concern, they are not telling us anything. Since this incident occurred on Nov. 9, we have not heard anything from them. Nobody is moved to search for these women. Even the union they belong to have not said anything.”
He confirmed that his family has been in close contact with the family of the other missing woman. “Yes, we’ve been going together. We’ve been working hand-in-hand with the family of the other woman,” he said. He added that they were expected to return to the police on November 27, but their lawyer informed them that the officer in charge said the company’s lawyer and drivers could not come to Panti on that day or the next, claiming statements had already been made. “Nobody told us anything about statement,” he said.
Appealing for help, he said: “Let the word know, I don’t know why somebody should be working for a government department like this, something happened to her on official assignment. She was asked to go to Abuja for promotional exam if not she would have stayed in Lagos. Yet they are not doing anything to ensure they are fished out dead or alive. Is it proper? The ransom we paid, they did not in any way come to our aid. We paid ransom by ourselves, yet we have not been able to see our beloved wives up till now.”
He said the Director of the transport company handled negotiations with the kidnappers and that the company contributed part of the ransom while the families provided the rest. “My family paid six million four hundred and twenty nine thousand for just my wife,” he said.
“Chinwe is my wife. If my wife is alive let them fish her out, let me see her.”
