When
25-year-old Ismail Balogun bade his family farewell in Lagos and set
out for Abia State on November 30, 2012, it was expected that he would
call his father, Musibau, on arrival at his destination.
Even
though the journey was supposed to last just 10 hours, members of his
family have not heard from him more than a month after he embarked on
the journey.
PUNCH
Metro learnt that Ismail, a 300-level student of Michael Okpara
University of Agriculture , Umudike, usually travelled by road whenever
he was returning to school.
According to Musibau, his son left home around 4:30pm on the fateful day and went to Maza Maza to board a night bus.
Musibau said Ismail usually took the night bus and always called to intimate him of every development as the trip progressed.
He
said, “My son left our home at Ikotun and headed for Maza Maza Bus Stop
around 4:30pm. Around 7pm, he called to say that he mistakenly left his
laptop and some credentials at home. I told him that I would the items
across to him. Around 9:50pm, I called him and he said the bus was about
leaving and I bade him farewell.
“However,
around 5am, I called his two phones but both were switched off. I kept
on calling until 10am the following day but the numbers remained
switched off. At this point, I became worried. I later called his
colleagues in school but they said they had not heard from him as well.
“Around
4pm, I went to Maza Maza Bus Stop to find out if any bus had had an
accident or just to know if anything went wrong. The bus operators told
me that there was no problem with all the buses. I checked all the bus
manifests but my son’s name was not written in any of them.”
Musibau
said three days later, he went to report the matter at Ejigbo Police
Division. He added that the matter was subsequently transferred to the
Area E Command, FESTAC for further investigation.
The investigation however took a sudden twist when it was discovered that Ismail’s facebook account was being updated.
PUNCH Metro observed that Ismail uploaded two photographs on his facebook page.
The
first picture, it was learnt, was taken at the Maza Maza Bus Park on
the day the student of Animal Production and Management left Lagos while
the second picture was posted a day after he left Lagos.
It
was observed that the second picture supposedly posted by the victim
was taken along with three other young men in a market place. In the
picture, Ismail was seen without a shirt.
Musibau
said he had written a petition to the Area E Commander, Mr. Damian
Okoro, since December 9, 2012, but no progress had been made.
The father of eight urged the police and members of the public to help locate his son.
He
said, “On checking Ismaila’s facebook page, I saw the photograph he
took before leaving the park with one Mass Transit Scheme managed by
Urban Development Bank of Nigeria Plc and another one with some boys
while my son was unclad in their midst.
“Ismaila
is my fourth child but the first boy. He is a good boy and does not
keep bad company. I appeal to the area commander to use his good offices
to rescue my son and bring the culprits to book.”
When contacted, the spokesperson for the state police command, Ngozi Braide, said she would call back.
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