CRIME: FCT Police Yet To Track Whereabout Of 37-Year-Old Man 5 Months After Disappearance 

The family of Bello Ayuba, a 37-year-old man living at Katampe, Nicon Junction, Abuja, are living a life of uncertainty since 17th May 2023, when they received sad news about the mysterious disappearance of their son.

It’s already 162 days with no information on the whereabouts of Ayuba. The family is worried sick hoping that someone will knock on their door to break the news that their son is found. Ayuba’s widowed mother told THE WHISTLER that the pain in her heart is something she can’t describe. 

“I’m sick right now. I feel like my chest will explode. My blood pressure is high, I’m currently in bed being administered drip. I pray my son comes back to me,” she said over the phone, sobing. 

Ayuba’s uncle, Mallam Aliyu Ibrahim, said he has been plying the Yola-Abuja road more frequently in the past weeks with the hope that his nephew would be found, but his whereabouts remains unknown.

How Ayuba ‘Dissappeared  

Speaking with THE WHISTLER in Abuja last week Thursday, Ibrahim said on 18th May 2023, he received a call from his elder sister (Ayuba’s mother) telling him she got a call from one Mujaheed Shua’ibu, Ayuba’s roommate in Abuja, that Ayuba had been missing for 5 days. 

Shocked, Ibrahim said he collected Shua’ibu’s contact from his sister and called to know what happened. According to him, Shua’ibu told him that Ayuba fuelled his car around 5:30pm and they went to NNPC Towers in the Central Area. While there, Shua’ibu said he received a phone call to go and donate blood at a hospital, so he left Ayuba. That was the last time he saw his roommate.

After speaking with Shua’ibu, Ibrahim and his other relatives including Ayuba’s mother,  travelled to Abuja from Yola. On arriving, they made inquiries on the appropriate police station to report the case to, and were advised to go to the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Police Anti-kidnapping Unit of the Jabi Division.

He said at the station, they requested the company of policemen to go to Ayuba’s house. Two policemen were assigned to go to Ayuba’s residence with his family members from Yola.

He said when they got to Ayuba’s room, they noticed that his trousers and shirts were in the middle of the sitting room as if he left them there to enter the bathroom. The suspicion led the police to invite Shua’ibu to the station where he recounted how he left Ayuba at the NNPC Towers. 

Ibrahim alleged that one thing led to the other during police investigation, but they didn’t understand where it was leading. Later the police asked them to go back to Yola until “further notice.”

Ibrahim said he went back to Yola and with the help of his lawyer wrote a petition to the AIG of zone 3 Yola and forwarded it to the IG to transfer the case to Adamawa since all parties involved are from there. 

He also claimed that they tracked Ayuba’s phone line on their own and discovered that Shua’ibu had communicated with Ayuba on the night he was said to be missing, fueling further suspicion about his roommate. 

Ayuba’s Roommate Speaks

Mujaheed Shua’ibu told THE WHISTLER that he works as a driver in the same company as Ayuba, but also relative to the owner of the company. He comes from the same local government in Adamawa State as Ayuba.

Speaking about what happened, he said they lived together at Nicon Junction Katampe, in an estate belonging to the company they both work for. While he works as a driver, Ayuba worked as a supplier of gravel and sand.

He repeated how he went with Ayba to NNPC Towers and left him there when he got a call to come to Garki Hospital to donate blood.

“Meanwhile, I told him I’m going to Garki, so I left around 5pm. I even left my car there with them, so around 7:30 he called to ask where I was, that he was yet to see me.

“I told him I was at Garki, they were testing Faisal (my friend), when they finish, we’ll come. So, around 8pm he called again and I told him to please wait for me, that they were also taking samples of my own blood. But he said it’s about to rain and was already drizzling. He will go home till I come,” Shua’ibu explained. 

According to him, around 9:30pm when they were done taking his blood sample, he went back to the Central Area to pick his car and called Ayuba’s line but he didn’t pick up. He then concluded Ayuba had gone home or was charging his phone. He then drove home but still no sign of his roommate up till 11 pm. 

He said, “I then called his line around 12am and it went through and rang twice and said ‘switched off.’ I kept trying but still switched off. In the morning, I called my boss who is in Adamawa and informed him about the situation on the ground. I told him that I called Bello’s line and it’s off and Bello has never slept outside. He was like ‘why is that so?'”

Shua’ibu said he later informed Ayuba’s family before reporting at the Mabushi Police Station. The police on duty checked the station cells and made enquiries to confirm there was no case of accident reported anywhere.

“That was when I went to the mortuaries asking around, including accidents and emergencies in hospitals, but couldn’t find him till today,” he explained. 

Police Responds

ASP Bawa, one of the police officers said to have handled the case, declined speaking on the matter. 

But the FCT Police Spokesperson, Josephine Adeh, said the police are still on the case. She said Ayuba’s case was transferred to the FCT Command’s Criminal Investigation Department (CID) which is carrying out the investigation.

“The investigation is still on going, and for security reasons we can’t avail you with the details of investigation but we assure you that at the conclusion of investigation the outcome will be communicated,” she said.