Blog

By GILBERT EKEZIE 

Sunday, February 27, 2011

Okoye

Peter Joseph Okoye who was last seen on November 21, 2010 could rightly be said to have just disappeared.

He is founder of Jesus the Man I Know Ministry and was to travel to his hometown in a week’s time before his disappearance to commence processes for his marriage. While Peter’s whereabouts remain a mystery his beloved fiancée, Ifunanya Umeh keeps waiting for the marriage.

The beginning of the gist is that Peter was allegedly sent to Ijebu Ode by a member of his ministry, Philip Enyabine to rescue a man struck by lightning.

In a petition to the Inspector General of Police, the family is alleging that Ifunanya was used as bait by his boss, Enyabine, to lure their brother to his waterloo. They claimed that the duo pricked by their sense of guilt, dramatically turned round to be the ones raising alarm about Peter, when the family still presumed that he was on one of his usual evangelical missions that sometimes kept him for days, except on Fridays.

Their story

Tracing his disappearance, his elder brother Uche, told Saturday Sun that his brother, an evangelist, spent little or no time in their house at 38 Osho Drive, Olodi, Apapa, Lagos. He recalled that on November 20, Sunday, Peter returned from a programme with a food flask supposedly from his fiancée. He told his brothers that his wife prepared a dish for him which he shared with his brother and friends. “Shortly after the meal he left for his usual work. Because of the demands of his ministry, nobody bothered to know whether he came back to the house or not. We became worried when on November 23 his fiancée, Ifunanya, called our sister, in Nsukka demanding to know if Peter was with her.”

Peter’s sibling wondered why Ifunaya who was a regular visitor at their home could call their sister in far away Nsukka. They immediately tried his mobile line to find he had switched off. They also called Ifunanya back to hear from her that Peter went to see one of the members of his ministry, Philip Enyiabine. The siblings visited Enyiabine, a familiar person to the family to know if he knew their brother’s whereabouts. Uche said Enyiabine told them that he sent Philip to rescue his friend who was struck by lightning at a monastery in Ijebu Ode.

“He said his friend was on his way to the east, when his vehicle broke down at Ore. He decided to go down to the Ijebu Ode monastery, where he was struck by lightning. He said he had spoken with Peter who confirmed to him he was at Ijebu Ode for the prayer and had promised to return as soon as possible.”

Confusion

All friends and allies were determined to help the Okoyes find their brother. To demonstrate his commitment, Enyabine, gave the team some money to travel to Ijebu Ode and its environs incase, Peter was involved in an accident. On November 26, the rescue team combed all prayer sites in Oyo and Ogun states and some of the monks on site told them that they did not see someone that fits their description of Peter who also was a regular visitor to the prayer mountains in the area. At the Ogun Monastery, the monk in-charge, told them that there was no incident of thunder strike in the area and called its Ijebu Ode branch that also affirmed that no one was struck. Back in Lagos they lodged a complaint with the police and Federal Road Safety Corp. Both told them they had no record involving their brother.

Back home and confused, the family kept on making frantic efforts to locate their brother, Pastors who claimed to have the spirit of vision visited them and promised to help them locate their brother. One of such persons was Peter’s assistant. But after sometime and search efforts, the family got threat calls from unknown persons warning them to stay off the effort and attempt to locate Peter or risk facing same fate.

However hope of finding Peter waxed on November 28 when the family received a call from a man who claimed to have abducted him. The caller demanded N5m ransom, but finally agreed to take N200,000 after much pleading to release him. Still determined to help the family find Peter, Enyabine also gave N100,000. They were directed to drop the money at a spot in Ajegunle, Lagos, which they did with the promise that Peter would be released the next day. They waited endlessly and Peter was not found nor released till now.

Accusations

The matter took another dimension when the family discovered that Ifunanya was allegedly hiding some important information from them. After much pressure, she told the family that Enyabine had alleged that Peter made away with his money. Taken aback, the family wondered why Enyabine or Peter’s fiancée never told them of this development all this while.

They confronted Enyabine who confirmed that Peter defrauded him of N20 million.

“I asked him to explain to the entire family, how our brother who he never had any business with duped him of N20m. He told us that he kept money in a special room and Peter asked him to mix the money with some dollars and pray so the money will increase. And true to his words the money increased and he was advised to keep it in that room. He never suspected anything till Peter disappeared. They opened the house and discovered that all the money, about N5m was gone. At that point it became clear that Enyabine could know the whereabouts of our brother, so we reported the case to the police.”

He narrated further that: “I introduced my brother to Enyabine when he had problem in his business. Months after the introduction, his life changed and in appreciation, Enyabine gave him a brand new bus and a flat at Iyana Iba. He also employed his fiancée as personal assistant. It was after this discovery that I recalled that Peter had told us that he was offered money by some people to stop praying for Enyabine. Even if, our brother owes him, let him tell us where to find him and he will surely get his money back. Why did it take him 13 days to open up and accuse my brother of theft if there is no hidden agenda? We felt betrayed that a woman our brother is planning to marry would do this.”

All efforts to get across to Enyabine failed as his phone numbers where out of reach. Our finding is that he has since relocated to Abuja where the matter is being investigated. Ifunanya who was also indicted told Saturday Sun on phone that she was arrested and taken to Abuja for investigation. “I have been released and I know that my God will vindicate me.”

Police investigation

When the suspicion heightened, the Okoyes reported the matter to the Lagos State Criminal Investigation, Panti, and Enyabine and Ifunanya were arrested and interrogated. Not satisfied with the outcome of the investigation, the family sought the transfer of the case to the Special Anti Robbery Squad, Adeniji Adele, Lagos.

The event however took a dramatic turn, when the suspect, Enyabine tired of harassment cried for justice and the Okoye brothers were arrested and transferred to Abuja where the Commissioner for Police, Special Investigation Unit is handling the case. At the time of filing this report Uche was still in detention for false accusation.

The Force Public Relations Officer, Olusola Amore told Saturday Sun that the police are investigating the matter to find out what became of Peter. He also said in response to Uche’s detention that in the course of investigation, both the accused and the complainant are relevant and the police cannot be used to intimidate any person when investigation has not shown that the accused is guilty.

He called on the Okoye family to be patient as the police would bring anyone involved in the sudden disappearance of Peter to face the wroth of the law.