A retired civil servant, Rowland Monokpo has begged the Police to find his two daughters twelve years after their disappearance in a farmland in Deeyor community, Gokana Local Government Area of Rivers State, Rowland Monokpo said he is still hopeful that his girls will return home.
Monokpo, made the plea on a radio programme on Rhythm 93.7FM, Port Harcourt, on Monday. He said that his daughters were preparing to start their university education when they were kidnapped in 2009.
He expressed sadness that the abductors refused to release his two children whose names are Scholatica and Maryann after he paid part of the ransom.
Monokpo explained, “I went to Akwa Ibom State to buy palm oil. So, when I came back, I didn’t see them at home. Suddenly, I received a phone call that my two daughters were carried away on the farm.
“I reported the matter to the police when my abducted daughters spoke to me that their condition was critical and the kidnappers were threatening to kill them if I don’t bring N1 million.
“I was able to raise N200, 000 which I dropped at Kpopie junction (a community in Gokana LGA), and the kidnappers picked it. Since that time I have not seen my two daughters till today. But I am still hoping in God that one day I may see my two daughters.”
The father is now asking the police to reopen the case and unravel the mystery behind the disappearance of his children.
He also called on the Rivers State Government, the civil society organizations and the international community to join him in search of his girls.
While noting that he has been battling health challenges as a result of the development, saying his daughters would have graduated from the university and doing other things boys now.
“I now have High Blood Pressure because of thinking and I also have an enlarged prostate which I have been checking at the University of Port Harcourt Teaching hospital every month end.
“If my two daughters were around, the first of them would have been a degree holder in marketing and the second would have been a lawyer. When they were kidnapped they had already written the JAMB exam and they passed. They were preparing to go to school.”
When contacted, spokesman of the state police command, Nnamdi Omoni asked Mr Monokpo to lodge a formal complaint to his office and promised to trace the matter.
“Let him come to me. Since he said the matter was reported to the police, we will trace it and see how we can reactivate it,” Omoni who is the officer-in-charge of the human rights desk at the state police command stated.