- Urge police to intensify search, come clean on reported murder of suspect
The family members of two ladies who were declared missing after visiting a businessman in Aba, Abia State, Andrew Amechi Ochekwo, have expressed belief that the ladies are still alive contrary to speculation that they might have been killed.
Ochekwo was accused of being responsible for the disappearance of Celine Ndudim and Afiba Tandoh, on April 27, 2024 after the duo left their home in Port-Harcourt to see him in Aba for alleged sexual pleasure.
Celine met Andrew on social media and they had been chatting for some time before the man invited her and Afiba to visit him in Aba and spend two nights with him.
Afiba, it was gathered, is a citizen of Ghana who left Ghana and visited her friend, Celine in Port-Harcourt after Andrew invited them.
The families have accused the police of frustrating the chances of rescuing the ladies the moment they were reportedly abducted, stressing, however, that with more commitments, the ladies would be found alive.
Few days after they were declared missing, police authorities disclosed that they recovered a corpse at a place close to where the ladies shared their last location in Aba before their mobile phones went off.
Meanwhile, Tessy Ndudim, sister to Celine said the family never believed that the remains found were that of their daughter, urging the Nigeria Police Force to intensify efforts in finding Celine and returning her to them alive.
Tessy revealed that Celine had since April 27, 2024 declared missing and further called on Nigerians to join in the search.
According to her, she received a call from her sister’s friend, informing her that the man her sister, Celine and her friend, Afiba visited had kidnapped them, adding that immediately she got the information, she traveled to Aba, Abia State and reported the development to the police.
She explained that Celine and Afiba visited Andrew Amechi in Aba but they later sent a WhatsApp message to one of their friends that Amechi abducted them and that they should alert the police and call for help from Nigerians.
“The Police ought to have rescued my sister and her friend that week but they didn’t take the matter seriously because, according to the officers who attended to us, such a matter requires gradual process and that the ladies would not be injured wherever they are.
“But I insisted and the police finally went to search the area where they shared their last location but when we got there, the police searched some buildings and the particular building that I insisted should be checked after I saw the car that looked like the one that the CCTV at the hotel that came to pick them in Aba, was not checked.
“The police later said they would conduct another search around 2am the next morning. They went and came back to tell me that they didn’t see anything,” she added.
Tessy said the unproductive response from the police in Abia forced him to petition the Zone 9 of the force in Umuahia and that it was the zone that gave an order to Umuahia Command that it should conduct its own research at the same location where the girls shared before their phones were switched off.
“It was the Umuahia Police Command that caught Andrew at the building I have been asking the Aba police to search after I saw the car used in picking my sister and her friend,” she added.
She stressed that the disappearance of her sister and that of Afiba has affected her family and that their mother has been down with ailment since the news broke.
Tessy appealed to the Abia State Government to rise to the issue, adding that many others had reported similar disappearance of persons in the state.
Speaking in a similar vein, Afiba’s husband expressed dissatisfaction at the manner the police handled the incident, saying it has been over a month since they reported to the force that his wife and her friend had been kidnapped, but police were yet to find them.
He said he was in contact with his wife from the time she and her friend, Celine traveled from Accra Ghana to Lagos before moving to Owerri, from where they traveled to Aba to see Andrew.
He said he became worried after his wife was no longer responding to chat, adding that he was shocked when another of Celine’s friends informed him that they were abducted by the man they visited.
He said he doesn’t believe police information of recovering a corpse of one of the girls in the area, unless there is scientific and medical proof that the corpse is his wife’s.
“I am not happy and I don’t believe that my wife is dead. Nigeria Police should do everything possible to rescue my wife and her friend,” he appealed.
According to him, the matter has been reported to both the Ghana High Commission and Nigerian Embassy, and further urged that his wife be rescued alive and safe.
Meanwhile, it was reported that Andrew Amechi was shot dead while he was being transferred from Aba to Abuja.
Andrew, who is said to be wanted in the United Kingdom for sexual assault, was said to have been killed after some vigilantes opened fire on him and the police team taking him to Abuja.
But, Tessy and Afiba’s husband said they never believed that Andrew is dead, asking the police to fully provide genuine information to members of the public.
