On May 21, 2021, police officers raided Ogwashi Uku, a community in Delta State, and arrested several young people, including Promise Uchendi and Chukwuma Ebodili, who were rough-handled and taken to an unknown police unit in Asaba. Since then, no family member has set eyes on them.

Though some of those arrested have been released, Promise and Chukwuma were not so lucky. Kester Bernald, a relative of the victims, engaged the service of a lawyer who tracked them to the new operational base of the Police Rapid Response Squad in Asaba. Through the lawyer, the victims’ family paid more than N400,000 to secure their bail, but all efforts proved abortive.

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“After all the money we paid,” Bernald told FIJ, “the Police are still telling us stories. Now we do not know where my brother and my cousin are.”

The lawyer handling the case said the Police claimed to have transferred them to Abuja in obedience to an ‘order from above’. He also revealed that Promise might have lost his leg from a gunshot injury.

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When contacted by FIJ, Bright Edafe, the Police Public Relations Officer in Delta State, said he had no knowledge of the case and could not conduct an immediate investigation into the matter.

“I can’t do anything now because I’m in Port Harcourt,” he said. “I should be back in Asaba by the weekend. When I get back, I will find out.”