My 76-yr-old mother missing for 4 months, woman cries out

…Says all efforts to see her mother have so far proved abortive

Bonaventure Melah

Human life is the most precious of all that God created and kept on earth. The loss of life, especially a beloved one, therefore usually comes with heartache, tears and sorrow.

In Nigeria, when a loved one dies at the age of 70, relatives and friends would say, well, he or she lived up to the three score years and half, which the Bible says is a full life circle, while those that live beyond that age are said to have special grace.

But, that is not the same when a human being, child, mother, grandmother, father or grandfather, anyone for that matter, is missing.

In that case, people would say, that it is better that someone dies, so that relatives can give them befitting burial and passage rites, than to get missing. Such occurrences are worse than nightmares.

The above is the sorry situation that Titilola Oni and her siblings have found themselves since March 13 this year, when their 76-year-old mother, Amudat Oluwa, left their house and has not been found, in spite of all the deliberate efforts they have made to find her.

Even as she spoke with The Daily Times on phone Friday afternoon from Abule Oja Police Station, an outskirt of Lagos, Titilola sobbed intermittently.

She was at the station to again find out what the Police have done or doing about the report she filed on April 10 over the disappearance of her mother.

She had earlier contacted me, to narrate the heart renting story and how she had, since March 15 gone from one part of Lagos to the other; and how inconclusive tips that nearly gave insight on how to find her mother ended up with the taste of ash in her mouth.

“On March 31, my mother left home to my sister’s place in Lagos. She wore a polo that is yellowish in colour, a yellow/grey and white colour Ankara, bare footed. She is 76 years of age, I guess she lost her memory but she is approachable.

“I did not meet her at home when I got back from work at around 8.00 pm. The next day I went to Lagos to check on her but to my greatest surprise, my sister told me she never saw mama.

“I started searching for her, I was told they saw her at Morroco, I quickly went there to check on her. I continued the searching to Gbagada Estate when somebody told me they saw her there but she was not.

“But, there was an affirmation that she was seen there at one Celestial Church at Gbagada. She left after asking for money for food and she was given by one woman and later came back to rain praises on the woman,” she narrated.

Titilola went on: “We went further; we were told she was seen at a place in Anike Street, Ladylak, Bariga for three (3) days in front of a shop. The shop owner said she was the one that drove her away.

We came back to the street at around 6.00 pm to 11.00 pm but she did not come back to the street.

“According to someone I spoke to, my mother was later seen at Bariga while I was still searching for her at Lady-Lak. Immediately I heard, I rushed down to Bariga, she was seen at one street beside the Just Rite Eatery on the main road.

One woman claimed she saw her around 10.00pm a day to my arrival asking people around there she wanted indomie noodle and somebody bought it for her and another person bought water for her”.

Titilola was at the Abule Oja Police station again this Friday to ask the police what they have done. Initially, the police told her the case file was nowhere to be found.

When she insisted while also speaking on phone with me, some police officers warned her to stop making the calls.

A few hours later, she called to say they have found the case file and that no tangible thing was written on it concerning her mother’s where-about but that the file indicated only that she filed a case of missing person in April, 2019.

She was as usual heart- broken, as she boarded a vehicle to go home.

“All efforts to see my mother have so far proved abortive. Am still searching for her,” Titilola told me and pleased with anyone with useful information about her mother to call her on 0806 097 6499.