I know my son is alive, says mother of missing undergraduate

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“I pray every day for my son Kelvin. I believe he’s still alive and is out there somewhere, but sometimes, I get so scared.” Those were the halting words of Mrs. Bridget Iwelu, whose 19-year-old son; Master Emeka Kelvin Shoremekun disappeared into thin air since last year.

Iwelu said her son “disappeared” from his hostel in June 2013, adding that she and her husband Michael Iwelu had not been impressed with Police handling of the investigation at Awka. The boy is a 200level student of Mass Communication, Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Ifite, Awka, Anambra State.
The family of Kelvin believes he was kidnapped because they had received call from a concealed phone number, threatening them and demanding money. Recalling what the callers said, Bridget said: “They said Kelvin was sick. They said they needed money to buy him some drugs. I asked for their account number, but they said no, that it could be used to trace them. They later said they would call back in December, but they never did.”
Indeed, after Kelvin’s parents reported the case at the Nigeria Police Force, Area “C” Command, Awka, Anambra State, being the nearest Police Station, the Divisional Police Officer(DPO), they met, handed them over to the Deputy Crime Officer, (DCO), who gave them two women police. Michael described the women police as “old women.” The women, however, allegedly refused to move on with the investigation except money was given. Michael said he gave them N5000 which they insisted was for fuel. At the end, the police did not use the car, but boarded motorbikes. Michael also paid the fare for the motorbikes.
They however refused to effect the arrest of one Shedrack, an alleged cultist, whom it seemed had the missing links to the growing puzzle of Kelvin’s disappearance. They even refused to venture into Shedrack’s vicinity, saying it was cultists’ abode. Rather, they picked Kelvin’s girlfriend, Ada, asked her to write a statement and told her to go. Since then, the investigation has been swept under the carpet. The desperate parents tried the police at the Federal Special Anti-Robbery Squad (FSARS), Adeniji Adele, Lagos State, but had to go home defeated after it dawned on them that they were spending too much there, with no significant breakthrough.
Recalling the genesis of how her boy disappeared, Bridget said: “It all started last year. I thought I was going crazy. You ought to have seen me.” According to her, in June, 6, 2013, Kelvin called that she should send him a recharge card. She sent him an MTN N200. Later, she saw his missed call and tried to call back, but his phone remained switched off. “When I got home in the evening, I called him, but it was still switched off.
I tried the next day and the day after that, but it was still the same story.” Beginning to worry, she called Ada, Kelvin’s girlfriend. The lady said she was not in town but would check on Kelvin once she got back to school. “Ada called me in the evening; she said she went to Kelvin’s room and only saw his phone on the mattress and there was no SIM card inside,” said Bridget. “I called my husband. He tried the number, it was the same thing. My husband travelled the next day.” Michael said that when he got to Awka, he located Ada and Kelvin’s room-mates.
They said they had not seen Kelvin for some time. They said Kelvin went out with some guys. They also said Kelvin is a friend to Shedrack. Michael said: “I told them to take me to Shedrack, but they refused, saying he stays in a bad neighbourhood.
I told them to give me direction.” When Michael got there, he met some tough looking guys who tried to stop him from going further into the compound. They told him that there were two persons bearing the name Shedrack in the compound, demanding he described the specific one he was looking for.
Michael said: “I said the one that is Kelvin’s friend. Shedrack then came outand told me he did not know any Kelvin. I left. The next day, I came back to Lagos. A week later, I went back to Awka. I went to Enugu to meet my friends, whom decided to go with me.
When we got there, my friends interrogated Shedrack. He still denied knowing Shedrack.” Michael was beginning to lose his cool over Shedrack’s persistent denial that he did not know Kelvin after everyone said Kelvin was always with him.
Michael and Shedrack resorted to arguing, with Michael telling him to say the truth and Shedrack maintaining his story. “We had issues. I slapped him. He now said he knew Kelvin, but that it was a long time he saw Kelvin last,” said Michael.
“I went to the station and reported the matter to the police. Funny enough, Shedrack was not invited by the police, not to talk of even writing a statement.” Bridget, thinking she would succeed where her husband, failed to discover anything, travelled to Awka. When she got to Awka, she called Ada.
The lady came late in the evening, forcing Bridget to lodge in an hotel. Bridget said: “In the morning, Ada said she was going to work. She said she would come in the evening. I called her in the evening, but her phone was switched off. I called the next day, the same thing. I left Enugu. I was on my way back to Lagos when I called again and her line went through. I asked her what happened, she said she had exams.” Bridget’s journey to Awka, just like Michael’s, was futile.
But she, however, succeeded in printing 300 posters of Kelvin and pasted them everywhere, praying and hoping for a miracle. When she got to Lagos, she approached NTA and the story, with the picture of Kelvin was air for three weeks. Michael said that they tried to get in touch with Nnamdi Azikiwe University authourity, but the school was on strike. Since then, Bridget and Michael had not gone back to the school.
They, however, soon received a call from a concealed number, threatening to kill Michael if he dared to show his face in the school again. Bridget said that last year November, another person called her younger brother, Ayo and made further threats. She said: “The caller said that they heard that Kelvin’s dad went to the school and slapped somebody, that if he tries it again, he would not leave the school alive.
“After they called in the evening time, we said we wanted to speak with Kelvin. They said they would call again in December. But they didn’t. We now went back to Awka. We told the police that somebody called us.” Even with all these details given to Awka Police, the case continues to grow colder. Surprisingly, for reasons nobody could ascertain, Ada, according to Kelvin’s parents, had kept hold of the boy’s phone after she removed it from his room.
Our correspondent called Ada, asking if she knew anyone behind Kelvin’s disappearance. She said she didn’t. She, however, refused to say if she was dating Kelvin or not. She described Kelvin as, “a good kid,” but was not happy that his mother wanted to declare him missing without consulting her. Before the question of Kelvin’s phone could be asked, she cut off, saying she wanted to call Bridget.
One of Kelvin’s roommates, Felix, said he did not think Kelvin was into cult activities, adding that the missing boy, however, has a lot of friends belonging to AXE and AIYE cult groups. Our correspondent also gathered further from the school that Kelvin allegedly went out with Ada before his disappearance. It was also said that Ada is not just older than him, but more ‘exposed than him.’
According to sources in the school, the warm, lively Kelvin became withdrawn after his admission into the university and subsequent relationship with Ada. He was said to have withdrew from some youngsters in the school whom people thought were his ‘blood brothers.’ It was also gathered that he frequented Ada’s place and became friendly with some boys at Abagana town. He was into secretive business with his friends in Abagana, a business he said could fetch good money, but needed very little capital.
Almost running out of ideas, the parents sought the assistance of a lawyer; Jiti Ogunye. The lawyer petitioned the Inspector- General-of Police, demanding proper investigation of the case. The police spokesman in Anambra State, Mr. Uche Eze, said there was no police station or command in Anambra State called ‘Area C,’ adding that Kelvin’s parents should go and verify the station where they reported the case, to make fact finding easier.
A member of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS), Ikeja, Lagos State Police Command, who has investigated kidnapped cases successfully in Nigeria, described this particular case as ‘sweet and easy.’ According to him, “to crack this case is quite easy. What the police in Awka ought to have done was to arrest all the friends mentioned, especially the cult members. Kelvin’s girl friend should have been arrested and detained for holding unto his phone.
The phone is part of evidence and instrumental in locating the boy or finding out what happened to him.” The lawyer stressed: “Kelvin was forcibly taken or lured out of his room, and since then had not been seen. He had room mates, class mates and “friends”, who could be grilled and thoroughly investigated in order to discover the truth about his disappearance.
Profiled cult gangs in the university could be screened to determine whether any one of them was responsible for the kidnap/abduction of Kelvin. The Nnamdi Azikiwe University Authority ought to have been made to answer certain questions. Kelvin had a cell phone, the call-log of which could be obtained for the purpose of investigation and conducting intense scrutiny of his call and SMS history, in spite of the removal and “disappearance” of the SIM card.
“Three months after his disappearance, some unknown persons called his family on a cell-phone claiming that he was with them, and that “he was fine’. That call could be traced to the person or area where the call was made; and voice-matching and comparison could be undertaken. In the circumstances, all these could provide vital clues and leads, but the Police have failed to act. “The search for the whereabouts of Kelvin is not as hopeless as the lethargy of the Police would make the matter appear. Kelvin did not vanish into thin air.
He did not fall victim of ritual murderers while wandering on the streets. He was taken from a school hostel, a place where we think, without playing police, investigation ought to have started. Unfortunately, beyond the perfunctory and lazy first steps taken by the Police, no further step had been taken by the Police. “The attitude of the Police in Awka to the plight of our client and other members of her family over this matter cannot be right.
We pray that you constitute an Inspector-General Team from the Force Headquarters to take over this case and comprehensively investigate same, with a view to securing the release of Kelvin from where he is being held captive, and bringing his abductors to justice.” The last time the journalist spoke with Ogunye on this issue, he revealed that the IGP has constituted a team to reinvestigate the disappearance of Kelvin. Right now, Kelvin’s anxious parents are waiting for a miracle.