Wednesday, February 25 2026 - The family of a Lagos-based man, Osas Azenabor, has faulted the continued silence of the state Police Command over his whereabouts, 15 months after he was allegedly arrested.
The family claimed that every effort made to get the police
to account for their son’s whereabouts has proved abortive.
Speaking in an interview with PUNCH Metro on
Monday, Osas’s father, Francis Azenabor, said his son was arrested on 1
November 2024 during a police raid.
He stated that Osas was arrested at Mile 12 and was
reportedly taken to Ketu Police Station. He added that an eyewitness at the
scene of the arrest advised his son to call his family, which he did.
The father said that when Osas’s wife arrived at the
station, she was told that her husband was not there.
According to him, the policemen on duty told her that her
husband was not at the station and advised her to check Ogudu or any other
police station to make further enquiries.
He said, “She went to other stations, but there was no
record of her husband there as well. The following day, which was Sunday, his
mother and I went to Oshodi Police Station.
“They said it was not possible for them to have arrested
people in Ketu and brought them to their station. We searched everywhere but
still couldn’t find him. We went to Badagry Prison and Kirikiri, but we still
didn’t find him.”
Francis revealed that an eyewitness, who helped Osas contact
his wife and informed her of the situation, confirmed that he was brought to
Ketu Police Station.
“The man whose phone my son used to call showed me the
police officer who held my son at Ketu Police Station. I saw the officer at a
Baba Ijebu shop. I went to meet him, and as soon as he saw me, he started
quarrelling.
“He didn’t allow me to speak because he recognized me as
Osas’s father. When you see me, you see my son. I had already spoken to the
Divisional Police Officer about this matter, but nothing came out of it,”
Francis said.
He added that he had made efforts to get the police
leadership in the state to act on the matter, but each time he visited a
division, he was directed elsewhere in what he described as a continuous cycle.
Francis noted that at one point, the officers who arrested
his son were detained following the order of a senior police officer, but they
were later released.
He said he had involved lawyers and visited correctional
centres and several police divisions without finding his son.
He faulted the police’s silence and inability to provide
answers regarding his son’s whereabouts, adding that he had been advised to
seek the intervention of higher police authorities.
“My son has been missing for 15 months after his arrest. I
need help from higher police authorities, the Inspector-General of Police, and
every Nigerian who can help me on this matter.
“It has been almost two years since I last saw my son. He
has three children. I don’t know how I will explain to them,” Francis added.
The Lagos State Police Public Relations Officer, Abimbola
Adebisi, had yet to respond to enquiries sent to her on the matter as of the
time of filing this report on Monday.
Similarly, the Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Moshood
Jimoh, did not respond to calls as of press time.
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