Stella Dimoko Korkus.com: Missing Persons In Nigeria -Alhaji Razak Gawat As Case Study...

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Wednesday, July 05, 2017

Missing Persons In Nigeria -Alhaji Razak Gawat As Case Study...

This might take some of you down memory lane if you are missing someone that is yet to be found..you can also tell us about it if you can....



ALHAJI RAZAK GAWAT, FIVE YEARS TOO LONG.


On the morning of July 6 2012 Alhaji Rasak Gawat left his house in search of his daily bread, decked in a white Agbada with his signature cap. The broadcaster and host of the popular Ramadan fasting programme Ejisari left for his office but never returned home. His car was later found empty and neatly parked on the Eko Bridge.


There was confusion everywhere as to what might have happened to him. Suicide was initially suspected however this was not substantiated as no suicide note was discovered, while search parties fruitlessly combed the expanse of the Lagos lagoon for his body.


The family spent days awaiting a call from kidnappers in the event of an abduction, but no call came through. Later on the then governor of Lagos State, Babatunde Raji Fashola (SAN), announced a 10 million naira reward for anyone with useful information on his whereabouts. In addition to that, broadcasts were made on radio and television informing Nigerians of the disappearance.


Despite efforts made by the Fashola administration and his family, the whereabouts of Alhaji Rasak Gawat remain a mystery to date. The family and friends of Alhaji Rasak Gawat held Fidau prayers for him on the 10th of July 2016 according to Islamic injunction on missing persons. As prominent as the case of Alhaji Rasak Gawat was, it is not the only unresolved case of missing individuals in Nigeria as at this moment.


Bukola Olowookere, an employee of Ecobank Bourdillon Branch Ikoyi Lagos has been missing since May 5 2016. Around 7pm on the said day, the mother of one told her husband Adewale in a phone call that she was on her way home from work and that was all. He waited all night for her arrival to no avail. The case was later reported at Ejigbo police station where law enforcement agents swung into action but nothing has come out of the investigation one year afterwards. 

The woman’s whereabouts are not known despite unconfirmed media reports stating that her bag and phones were found by the police.


The cases of these two individuals constitute less than 1% of the number of people missing in Nigeria annually. According to the National Bureau of Statistics between 2002 and 2016 the Nigeria Police investigated about 3000 cases of missing persons with an average of 5 individuals every week. From January to May 2016 the Police received reports of 100 missing persons and it hasn't stopped since then. Lots of individuals have been found dead with their bodies mutilated, some were found after payment of a hefty ransom to their kidnappers while others were not found at all.


The import of this is that we live in a very insecure country where individuals disappear for no reason. The Nigeria Police Force saddled with the duty of civic protection of lives and property is underfunded and ill equipped as a result they barely get to the root of issues of missing persons unless the affected families mount pressure on the Force.


Though the case of Alhaji Gawat was a topic of national discourse back then in 2012, now in 2017 many have forgotten the man once existed let alone being missing, which is a failure of the government which swore to protect the lives and properties of the citizens.


Poor record keeping practice of security agencies is also a hindrance to finding a solution to the case of missing persons in Nigeria. The moment an officer in charge of an investigation is transferred to another command the case dies a natural death and it stops there as the case file is declared missing most times due to the transfer of the investigation officer as if there was no proper handing over to the current officer in charge by the former .


In the case of Rasak Gawat the current situation of the case is not known. In the course of writing this article I put a call to CSP Jimoh Moshood the Nigerian Police Force P.R.O who promised to call back to give me an update but the update hasn’t arrived one week after. It is worthy of mentioning that between 2012 and 2017 five Inspectors General of Police have served the country and none of them reviewed the case in other to find a lasting solution to it. This is an anomaly that should not exist in a sane society as we need to find solutions to issues to prevent re-occurrence.


More so, the case file of Bukola Olowookere was said to have been transferred to the Force Headquarters and there is no update about it till this moment. As I've said earlier, these two cases make up less than 1% of missing persons in Nigeria. Some of the kidnapped Chibok girls are still being held hostage by the Boko-haram sect after 3years of kidnap. The kidnapped students of Igbonla Model College Epe are still in captivity 40 days after their disappearance.


I would like to use this medium to urge government at all levels to make the security of lives their utmost responsibility as every life counts; security agencies should be equipped and trained to make them more efficient.


That Alhaji Rasak Gawat is still missing five years after is unfortunate and a sign that we are yet to get it right in terms of public safety as a country.

By Adesina Tosin Nathaniel


*Evans might know something of these cases..Hisss

32 comments:

  1. So just like that Gawat is five years without his whereabouts.

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  2. Evans kee Stella? Evans no dey carry salary earners nah, the manufacturers and able importers. And beside, he never carry any Yaraba person.

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    1. Bastard even you can't spell Yorub correctly.

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  3. Hmm,touching ,atleast even if they are dead,it would have been better for the family to give them the last respect by burying them properly than having that thought that they might be back someday .it is painful sha,

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  4. Very thought provoking writeup. And Stella's last paragraph input was a comic relief to me.

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  5. They should interrogate Evans biko

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  6. Thus country has become so insecure.
    May God continue to keep us safe

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  7. yes Stella i agree wit u.Evans is a bad man..they shuld execute him wit firing squad..

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  8. hahahaha Stella leave our bros Evans for us ooo. Evans deals with dollars not Naira.

    That Gawat is a man i know very well. He always comes to see my former boss in the office. His case i just cant fathom what really went wrong but since it is 5 years, i just pray for the family and let them find comfort in Allah Amen.

    Bukola froom Ecobank, the family should always remember her during her happy times. That is what i will say.

    These cases are mystery and can never be resolved. It is well with their families.

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    1. If is not Evans then one of his brothers or colleagues, so he will still know about them especially the banker.

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  9. Evans ke. why he didnt ask for ransom since? I strongly believe that the man committed suicide. I dont know about the woman.

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  10. Evans doesn't know a thing about Gawat's disappearance. Let me tell you what happened. There is this drug baron they call xxxx (he is in jail now).

    Xxxx and Gawat did a runs then with two couriers and one of them was nabbed. The second made it through and issues happened on how to share money because xxxx didn't want to share but Gawat felt since one person was nabbed, they should both bear the loss. Gawat wasn't happy about this and sent xxxx his 'share' and kept the remaining half for himself.

    Xxxx got angry and ordered some armed men to go grab Gawat which they did. They tied him to a trailer rim with iron chains and threw him over the bridge into the water and that's why you can't find him. If there are divers, they can go into that water if they won't find Gawat there.

    I have a feeling his children knows but it's kind of shameful to admit but good news is the drug guy has been arrested and jailed. His matter was so hot back then that Segun Adisa of Labe Orun was one of the people that ensured that he was jailed for his atrocities. I added his name before but all this people and juju made me scared kind of so I left the drug baron's name out.

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    1. You don't mean it. Ifeneeeme!!

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    2. The account I heard was that the wife wasn't down with the idea of him taking a 2nd wife & she arranged for him to be tied with stones & some heavy metals & thrown into the lagoon on his way from FRCN where he anchors an Islamic programme.

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    3. Do you also know that Gawat has another family aside from the one known ...How do I know ? Because I'm one of the kids he had with the "other" woman ..
      Sigh. .

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    4. We the "other" woman's kids went off the radar (we still are ) for fear of the unknown

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    5. Yahooboy you are bloody liar and may God never forgive you for all the lies you put up there. Were you there when all these your concoctions happened? This was my mentor and adopted Egbon. May God never forgive u. And you children from the hidden family please do come out and let the elders look into it and accept you into his family I beg of u. Yeah his wife is not a soft meat but she's not god. Wherever you are Egbon mi May Allah make you comfortable.

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    6. Yahooboy. Lies from the pit of hell. I was with Gawat on the day he disappeared. I was one of the last people to see him alive. I can't speak to what he may have done in his youth before he rediscovered religion but I can categorically say that he was none of what you wrote up there. He had a meeting scheduled for that evening and he left us around 4pm. If his driver had been with him that day, maybe we would know who he went to meet with. It is disgusting to say these things about a man who is no longer here to defend himself. The irony of it all is that he spoke that day about a cleric who left home and never returned and his family doesn't know what became of him. He asked us to always find the mercy of Allah in the toughest situations as there's always something to be thankful for. My prayer as always is that we know what happened to him for his family's sake and may Allah grant him Aljannah Firdaous.

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  11. Thank You Stella. I'M Grateful

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  12. Evans bawo?

    Hmmm, we still have a long way to go in Nigeria. May God help our leaders.

    An adage in Yoruba says- "Omo ku san ju omo sonu lo"

    May God comfort the families.

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  13. Missing persons also abound abroad

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  14. God what is this??? Pls protect and guide us always. Amen!!!

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  15. Honestly stella the rate of which people are missing in this country is alarming, may God help us not to be victim of such

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  16. Wow@yahooboy,u sound so confident,am sure his close relatives know what's up!!!
    May God keep us in His blood all the time o!
    A distant uncle has been missing sinz Dec23rd 2010,he goes to the mountains to pray into 25th every year,he went without his fines,just the clothes on his back and a bible.his wife has gone to a lot of places,they tell her he is not dead that someone sent him on an errand ni and if he's not found soon,he will be die.funny thing is he was rumoured to deal in drugs years ago too,he made a lot of money in early 80's as a young man!!!!

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    1. Yahooboy is a bloody liar and God ll never forgive him and his generations.

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  17. They are likely dead,as sad as it sounds.I know 2 people who escaped ritualists recently. These ones may not have been so lucky.

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  18. My uncle has been missing since June 2012

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  19. May God continue to protect his people

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