Where is my husband?

By LINUS OBOGO

Pregnant wife of 40-yr-old Friday Akpandara, who got missing after hanging out with friend, cries out

Where is my husband? Where is my husband? Where is my husband? This is a familiar refrain on the lips of Mrs. Yejide Obidipe Akpandara, wife of 40-yr-old Friday Akpandara, as she stares vacuously but anxiously into the ceiling at 39 Omololu Road, off Randle Avenue, Surulere, Lagos.

With a gush of tears nestling down her protruding tummy, Yejide is overwhelmed by anxiety about her husband’s strange disappearance without a trace since August 24, 2012.

Yejide’s mother-in-law is not spared the torment of a missing son either, as echoes of where is my son? Where is my son ricochet everywhere in their living-room. Indeed, the entire 39 Omololu Road residence of his parents is wholly encased in a pall of gloom with the unexplained whereabouts of Friday Akpandara. The mood is melancholic, even as the ceiling fan swirls woozily in empathy with its aggrieved owners.

But where is Friday Akpandara? This is a million dollar question begging for an answer. Was he ‘raptured’? And if so, could his Toyota Corrola with registration number, Lagos: BV 400 APP, have also been ‘raptured’? Loads and loads of questions, as neither he nor his car is anywhere to be seen. Herein lies the puzzle about the disappearance of a 40-year-old man.

Friday Akpandara, a native of Bayelsa was born 40 years ago on a Friday, which was why his  parents christened him Friday. But as if he had an interminable fate with Friday, Friday reportedly went out with a friend on August 24, 2012 being Friday, in what has sadly, turned out a seeming outing of no return.  

On the fateful day of August 24, he reportedly hopped into his car from his Ikorodu residence with no feeling of foreboding along with his pregnant wife, his two-and-a-half-year-old daughter and a friend and drove to 39 Omololu Road, off Randle Avenue, Surulere, where he dropped off his family with his aged mum for the weekend and left for Seunu Street off Western Avenue, Surulere.

According to Friday’s younger brother, Anthony, “having left his wife and daughter with his mother, he drove his car and packed in front of his friend, Ubong’s house. He was billed to attend a function on Victoria Island, with his business associate, Kenneth Egendi, in whose car the two friends drove at about 6pm.” 

Anxiety mounting

For what was earlier thought to be a brief function or rather a short business parley, The Nation gathered that the outing stretched very late into the night culminating in Mrs Akpandara becoming sufficiently worried and anxious about her husband, who she hinted was not known to keep late nights.  

With the anxiety about her husband yet to return mounting, Anthony told The Nation what went down: “At about 11 pm of the same day, Friday’s wife called him to find out where he was and he  told her they were already heading home from Victoria Island. When he was not forth coming, she put a call to him but this time, unsuccessfully. The following day at about 4pm on Saturday, his wife called me to inquire if I had heard from or seen Friday. According to her, she was not able to reach him on his cell phone after her last call to him at 11pm on Friday, having tried unsuccessfully throughout the morning and afternoon of Saturday.”

But why did Friday Akpandara’s two cell phones suddenly go stone-dead between 11.30 Friday and 7am the following day Saturday? And if Akpandara was indeed dropped off as claimed by his friend, Kenneth Egedi, why was it such a long haul from Western Avenue to Agric in Ikorodu? Was it possible that Akpandara could not find his way home? These are posers that are agitating the minds of Yejide and other family members. 

But Anthony recounts what Mrs Akpandara said were details of how he (Kenneth Egedi) and his friend parted on that fateful night of Friday: “After inquiring from Ken whom her husband had gone out with, she was told that he (Ken) had since dropped him off at Ubong’s house at about 11pm, where he was to pick up his car to drive home to Ikorodu. Ken told Mrs. Akpandara that after picking up his car, he was driving closely behind Friday and indeed saw him ascend the barracks end of Ojuelegba bridge along Western Avenue-Ikorodu Road. He said he could not establish further communication with his friend any longer as his cell phone batteries were down. 

Frantic search

With minutes counting into hours and hours into days, it was increasingly becoming a race against time to find the missing Akpandara. Anthony said he tried frantically on Saturday to reach his brother on phone but all to avail. “So, I had to rush down to my parents’ house to see my brother’s wife and get more detailed information on his movement the previous day. She told me she last spoke to her husband at 11.06pm on Friday. I asked for my brother’s friend’s (Egedi’s) number from her which she gave me. I called and inquired from Egedi when was the last time he saw my brother. He said it was 11pm Friday night when they were both driving home from a social function on Victoria Island. 

“I asked him if my brother took alcohol and if he could have driven under its influence, he told me Friday did not take any alcohol or excess of it. Again, I asked him if anything happened to him on their way back from V/I, he answered in the negative. I later went to see Egedi at his house and we both left to look for my brother along Western Avenue-Ikorodu Road. We also checked with the Onipanu police station and continued the search up to Ogudu, but without any trace of my brother. We checked under all the flyover bridges if he was involved in an accident. Yet there was no such indication.

We also inquired from the police patrol, FRSC as well as LASTMA officials if they arrested anyone driving between the hours of 11pm Friday and 4pm Saturday. They said they did not arrest anyone. We were told there was an accident but they could not give details of about which car was involved. We checked at LASTMA, FRSC and VIO offices whether his car was towed, but we could not find anything. We engaged locals to assist us check along bush paths if anything funny might have happened. All these did not yield any result. We also checked critical rescue areas along Lagos/Ibadan Expressway, in case he was rushed there for an emergency, but it was the same story.

So, we went from one hospital to another. Kenneth and I were at LUTH, LASUTH, Gbagada General Hospital and the emergency and casualty wards of these hospitals to find out if any emergency was reported. The following day, we went to Ikorodu General Hospital mortuary and we still could not find my brother whether dead or alive.

While we were searching for my brother, we called other friends of his to make a report at the nearest police station to his house, which is Owutu police station. We implored them to check at every police station in Ikorodu if there was any arrest or incident that would have warranted his arrest by the police. But there was no arrest or incident involving my brother or his car,” he said.

A search in futility?

Having failed to find Akpandara on Saturday, it was gradually appearing like a fruitless search that would go on and on into another day. Anthony continues: “We continued the search as early as 7am the following day on Sunday and checked if his car accidently skidded off the road, but we still could not find anything as such. At Majedun River, we checked if any car veered off  into the lagoon. We found nothing. We dispatched different search teams to different areas to assist us look for him. All these efforts yielded no result. By 12pm on Sunday, I had to make a formal report at the Barracks Police Station, Surulere.”  

Blackberry broadcast

With the search for Friday Akpandara getting bleaker and yielding no positive result, a strategy for spreading news of his disappearance was devised. According to Anthony, “with no prospect of locating my brother, we had to broadcast the incident on Blackberry broadcast so that anybody who had seen him during the period could help us with information. Four days later, a young man by name Ehis Udin, got back to us that he had seen my brother at about 1.55am at Soul Lounge night club, Shoprite Plaza, Lekki. Ehis described the exact colour of clothes, without being hinted of what my brother wore on the night of Friday, August 24. 

Twist in the tale

With fresh insight emerging, it was obvious that Ken had not revealed all the details about their outing which he described as a business function on August 24. But reality would soon begin to stare him in the face. Anthony offered: “When we confronted Kenneth with this shocking piece of information, he said they were at the club briefly when my brother wanted to empty his bladder. But Ehis confirmed he saw my brother actually dancing in the club and he was not looking like one who merely stopped by to relieve himself.

At first, Ehis was scared to come up and face the police and offer any information, but we pleaded with him that he could be of assistance to us in locating our brother. That was when he agreed to give a statement to the police. He gave his statement in the presence of Kenneth Egedi, my elder brother and other friends and family members at the Barracks Police Station, Surulere. 

Based on Ehis’ piece of information and the statement he gave to the police, my elder brother, Kenneth, along with other family members went to Soul Lounge night club and after a thorough scrutiny from the close circuit television (CCTV), it was confirmed that my brother and Kenneth were in the club up until 1.55am of Saturday. At that point, Kenneth’s facial expression suddenly changed and he struggled to respond to questions put across to him by the Shoprite Chief Security Officer. In fact, he was caught on CCTV entering his car and driving off with Friday at about 1.55am. This was in spite of the fact that he had earlier given a statement to the police that he saw my brother leaving Surulere at about 11pm of Friday, August 24. He told the police that he had dropped off my brother in front of  Ubong’s house to pick up his car and had  actually saw him ascending Ojuelegba bridge at 11pm.”

Ken’s rump exposed

While truth is said to be constant, it is often difficult to tell if a lie could be told consistently the same way. This is where Ken’s claim of attending a business function with Friday as well as dropping him off at Ubong’s house at 11pm of Friday was punctured. Anthony said of how Ken was confronted with the truth and the obvious chasm between his earlier account and the latest discovery: “There was a huge contradiction between the account he gave to the police and his later account that he and my brother stopped briefly at Soul Lounge for him to relieve himself.

When he was further confronted with the discrepancy in his account by the manager of the shopping plaza after watching the CCTV footage, he said he was not quite aware of the time they left the spot. But why was Kenneth not able to tell the difference between 11pm and 2am?  Was he under the influence of alcohol not to know the difference?”

Given the twist in the tale, Kenneth Egedi has been the guest of the police since August 31.

What has continued to astonish many is if Akpandara was indeed dropped off in front of Ubong’s house at about 11pm as claimed by Ken, why was he not seen by anyone removing his car from Ubong’s house? Why did he not call to tell his friend that he had removed his car, despite the time of the night? 

Curiously, Ubong allegedly confirmed that the car was there until the time he went to bed. But, according to Anthony, “On Saturday morning when we went to Ubong’s house, the car was no longer there.”

Who could have driven Akpandara’s car away if he was not the one?  Was it driven away by a spirit or a ghost? 

Why was Egedi shy to mention that he was at Soul Lounge with Friday until the CCTV revelation almost a week later? If they were supposed to be attending a function at a friend’s house, how did they end up at Soul Lounge?

When this reporter was at The Shoprite, Lekki, Wednesday, the Chief Security Officer, CSO, Mr Bashiru said some police personnel were at the plaza with Ken and relations of Friday. according to him, they were shown the CCTV footage where Ken and Friday were captured driving out at 1.55am Saturday. He said after watching the footage, a copy was made available to the police. 

The Nation gathered that with the screw seemingly turning on him, Egedi allegedly told an elder of Akpandaras that he had a hunch that some family members may have a hand in Friday’s disappearance. He allegedly produced some GSM numbers which he said he got from a friend who works with one of the telecom operators. But incidentally, Anthony said: “the numbers happened to be those of my two cousins, Maxwell Akadabo and Edimomo Tony. These two cousins of mine had sometime provided accommodation for my brother and Kenneth whenever they travelled to Bayelsa for their projects. But why would Ken suspect the duo of allegedly having a hand in Friday’s disappearance?  

Last moment with wife

In what could be termed ‘the last supper’ offered by her husband, Yejide who described Friday as an open-minded, loving husband and dad to their two-and-a-half-year-old daughter told The Nation: “Before he brought us down that day, he went out to buy me amala (meal made of yam flour) to eat. We left Ikorodu after that for Surulere, where he dropped me off at his parent’s house. It was about 6pm when he told me he was going to Lagos Island with one of his friends, Kenneth Egedi. He said Kenneth was going to link him up with a man who is into property development. On that evening, he told me he was leaving his car in front of Mr. Akpan Ubong’s house and to join Kenneth in his car. 

‘’At exactly 11pm, I called my husband to know why he had not returned from Lagos Island. He said he was returning with Kenneth to pick his car at Ubong’s house. That was the last I heard from my husband. The following day, Saturday, I kept trying his two lines but could not get through to him. His two cell phones were switched off. 

‘’I became so worried and agitated that I had to call Kenneth to tell him I had neither seen nor heard from my husband since both of them went out the previous. He told me my husband’s cell phone batteries were down.

‘’I later called Ken again to inform him that I had still not seen my husband, he just told me he did not know what had gone wrong. This was in the afternoon of Saturday. I also called my husband’s mechanic to find out if he took his car to the workshop for service, but he said no. I became more worried. In the evening, I called his younger brother, Anthony, and told him I had not seen his brother since he went out (August 24). He quickly called Ken and they both set out in search of my husband.

‘’I sent my younger brothers to go to Ubong’s house and check if my husband’s car was still where it was packed, but they could not find it. It was removed from where it was packed. Nobody knew who removed the car. I understand that while the issue of who removed the car was being discussed, somebody walked past and said he saw a red car packed at the very spot at about midnight on Saturday.

‘’But the account of a passerby who said he saw the car at midnight sharply contradicted Ken’s claim. To me, Ken’s account just did not add up. 

All through the period of the search, Ken did not say he was at The Soul Lounge night club with my husband until three days later when someone volunteered information that he saw them at the night club. That was when he admitted that they were at The Soul Lounge at about 10.30pm. He said my husband wanted to relieve himself, after which he (Ken) bought a bottle of water for himself. He said my husband did not take anything. 

The young man who said he saw them also mentioned the exact time of about 1.55am they were at the club. CCTV footage corroborated the young man’s claim. But Ken knew this and chose to keep it from us. It means he knows more than he has told us.”

But who was Ken to Yejide’s husband, Friday? She replied: “I knew Ken with my husband since April 2010. He used to accompany my husband when he had building contracts outside Lagos. He had also followed him to his village in Bayelsa State. He occasionally visited us in Ikorodu.

‘’My husband was a straightforward, loving husband and dad. He was very open to me and he was not into any shady business.” 

According to Friday’s distraught mom: “Ken and my son were really close. Ken told me one of their friends whose identity he did not disclose had a function on Victoria Island which he and Friday attended on August 24. When I asked him what the function was all about, he ignored and shifted attention to someone else. I have always trusted Ken throughout his friendship with my son, Friday. But when he had to lie that he dropped him off at 11pm to pick up his car only to be exposed by CCTV footage means that he knows something about the disappearance of my son, which he is not telling us.”

When contacted on the matter on Thursday, the Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO) of the Lagos State Police Command, Ngozi Conchita, confirmed that the suspect, Kenneth Egedi, was being held at the Homicide Department of the State Criminal Investigation Department (SCID), Panti, Lagos, over the whereabouts of Friday Akpandara who was allegedly in his company at time of his (Friday’s) disappearance.