The family of Mr. Emmanuel Ofobrukueta, a 66-year-old retired director from the Delta State Post-Primary Education Board, has made an emotional appeal to the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Mr. Kayode Egbetokun, for urgent intervention in his prolonged captivity.
Mr. Ofobrukueta was abducted by unidentified gunmen in Mosogar, near Sapele, Delta State, three months ago.
His wife, Mrs. Theresa Ofobrukueta, a retired nurse, has publicly sought help, expressing the family’s ongoing trauma and frustration over the apparent inability of local authorities to secure her husband’s release.
“He has since been in the kidnappers’ den for the past three months despite efforts by the Delta State Police Command to rescue him,” she said tearfully during a media interaction in Sapele on Thursday.
Mr Ofobrukueta was kidnapped on 13th of January 2025, just a day before he was due to travel to Asaba to process his long-awaited pension.
According to the family, the kidnappers initially demanded a ransom of N40 million but later accepted a negotiated sum of N4.2 million, which was paid on 15 January through an intermediary. Despite this, he remains in captivity.
“Despite the N4.2 million ransom payment, the kidnappers are yet to release my husband, as I am speaking with you,” Mrs Ofobrukueta lamented.
“I beg the police to wade in urgently by organising a special effort to unravel this kidnapping and rescue him.”
The family, through their solicitors at Forthright Chambers, led by Barrister Frank Tietie, submitted a formal petition to the IGP detailing growing suspicions of a possible conspiracy behind the prolonged abduction.
“Some members of the victim’s family firmly believe that an analysis of post-kidnap events, particularly the twists and turns associated with the ransom payment, along with intelligence from a private tracking firm, points to the involvement of close associates – including the ransom bearers and the kidnappers – who may be working together to keep him detained,” the petition reads.
Frank Tietie, the family’s legal representative, emphasised: “There are strong suspicions that the ransom bearers may have colluded with the actual kidnappers.
“This leads us to believe a coordinated and deliberate effort is being made to keep Mr Ofobrukueta in captivity.”
The petition, which has been officially received at the Force Headquarters in Asokoro, Abuja, calls for immediate federal intervention, stressing that the Delta State Police Command appears overwhelmed by the complexity of the case.
“This is an SOS call,” it concludes — a heartfelt plea from a family now living in fear and uncertainty, desperately hoping the nation’s top police authority will rise to the occasion and deliver justice.
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