'Di trauma no be wetin pesin fit tok'- mama wey her 21-year-old son disappear

Andrew Gift

Reporter, BBC News Pidgin

“I dey lack words to express how we dey feel about my son disappearance, e don affect me, my husband and our oda child, di trauma no be wetin pesin fit tok”.

“Wetin I need na my son, I no go fight anybodi wey carri am, no court or police case, all I need na make my son come back to me”.

Dat na tori of Mrs Kola Babalola wey her son disappear for April dis year for Lagos southwest Nigeria.

As di world mark International day of pipo wey disappear on 30 August, Obafunto na just one pesin among 25,000 pipo wey Red Cross say dey miss for Nigeria.

21 years old Obafunto Babalola disappear for di streets of Lagos without trace.

Dem find im phone for di street wia pipo last see am according to im papa. Four months after di young young still neva show face. Di family report im matter to di police but di search neva still yield any result

“We dey pray, dey fast, dey search and we get hope say im go come back, na only him and di oda one we get”

Wen we ask am about di possibility say di don die she say “My son neva die, e dey alive, e go come back soon, nothing happun to am, we dey hear cases of pipo wey disappear for months and later come back, na so my son case go be”

“Wen you hear dis tins you go think say na joke until e happun to you. I don hear pipo return after five months, six months, nine months, one year and four years but God forbid our own no go reach dat long”.

Mrs Babalola dey beg any pesin wit info about her son to reach out to dem, say dem still dey believe God say im go come back.

She say “we don hear cases wia pipo disappear for five months, two years and later come back, so we get hope say im go come back”. Obafunto na 300 level architecture student for University of Lagos before e disappear.

Tori be say e sleep over for im friend hostel di previous night, na wen im dey return to im hostel in di morning e disappear. Im friends open Facebook account wey dem use dey request pipo to help find an or provide information.

Ikeoluwa dey miss since December

Anoda family for Abuja central Nigeria dey search for dia five years old son Ike since December 2021.

On a usual work day, Mr Adeniyi carri im son go shop wia e dey do Lotto business, while at im business place dem begin look for di small boy, both neighbors and customers no fit tok wetin happun to di boy.

Eight months after, dem still dey look for di boy.

Adeniyi say “we report di matter to di police, news pipo carri am, but till now we never find am”.

“Di disappearance badly affect my wife even till now, she neva get herself back. I get three boys, im be number two. Im brothers still dey ask me if him till now”.

According to him, dem done travel far and wide to search for di boy. “E get wen we get info say dem arrest some kidnappers for Ondo wey kidnap children but we no find am.

Di boy dey fours years old wen di incident happun last year. E turn five years old by May 2022 according to im papa.

Four years Alkali disappear wen terrorists attack dem

Di terrorist insurgence for di northern part of Nigeria don lead to di disappearance of plenti pipo, Alkali na one of dem and di family still dey suffer di pain nine years after.

Im mama Falmata Amodu tell Red Cross say “wetin dey bother me most na say I neva hear weda im dey alive or don die, wen I dey cook food for im siblings, I dey think of am”.

Alkali dey 10 years old wen di incident happun for 2013

“For many years wey we stay for Maiduguri, di tin dey worry im papa bad, e dey always get nightmares and go dey shout di boy name for dream” na so Falmata tok.

64,000 disappear for Africa

International Committee of di Red Cross ICRC release report say at least 64,000 pipo disappear for Africa. Out of dat number 25,000 of dem na Nigerians.

Di report say from di 25,000 wey dey miss for Nigeria 14,000 of dem na children.

Red Cross say dat number na for pipo dem capture dia details but add say di number go huge pass in reality.

E say major causes of disappearance of pipo na sake of armed conflicts in di region.

According to Red Cross, pipo wey disappear dey face exploitation, violence, mental distress and stress.

Dem dey live dia families in grief, immense pain and inability to move forward wit life.

How to report missing pesin case

Plenti pipo dey disappear for different places and different times. Many of di cases dey underreported.

Police tok tok pesin for Lagos state Benjamin Hundeyin say any pesin fit declare anybody missing any time, but to make an official you need to make report for office.

“Wen you bring di case of mission pesin to di police, we go wan confirm wen di incident happun, we go ensure say 24 hours don pass before we go declare di pesin missing”.

E say reason dem dey delay for at least 24 hours na to give di families time to check all ends and ensure di pesin actually dey miss.

According to him, wen dem finally declare di pesin missing, most times dem go publish am for newspapers and most TV and radio stations dey carri.

Our research show say police no get data base of missing pesins for Nigeria