When 53-year-old Kingsley Osanrenren aka Cello left his 42 Bello street, Ikosi-Ketu, Lagos home on the 26th of December, 2022 for a carnival, he was looking forward to an exciting new year, but as fate would have it, six months after, Cello’s location remains unknown causing sadness and fear to his family and friends.
His elder brother, Adebisi Temitope while addressing journalists in Lagos wept profusely as he begged Nigerians to help the family unravel the mystery behind his disappearance.
In his words “if he is dead, at least we should see the corpse and bury him, he has been missing since December, this is June and still no news. Nigerians should come to our aid”.
Kingsley was reported to have attended a carnival in Ikosi area of Ketu, Lagos on the 26th of December, 2023 and was later seen at a popular car wash beside the Conoil fuel station along the Lagos/Ibadan expressway and has disappeared since then.
The case was reported at the Ketu Police station where some suspects were arrested and later released before the family transferred the case to Panti, Lagos where the suspects were re-arrested and also released to the dismay of family members.
The suspect, Chinedu on the run!
Three suspects, Oba, Oje and Tobi were arrested in connection with the missing person’s case. Tobi and Oba were arrested as they were squatters with the missing person, surprisingly they failed to report that he was missing and gave misleading statements to the police two months after the incident.
Another suspect, Oje was arrested. He was in possession of the missing man’s debit card and interestingly it was shown in the missing person’s statement of account that the suspect used his ATM card multiple times after he was declared missing.
The main suspect, Chinedu was with the missing man’s phone. Tracking showed that Chinedu’s phone and the missing person’s phone were within the same zone. Chinedu escaped to Imo State before he could be arrested. He was alleged to be the last person to have seen the missing ‘Cello’.
Chinedu was a worker at the car wash where the missing person was last seen and the family also alleged that one Chief Razak Olokoba, the owner of the car wash has been disrupting the investigation and that he facilitated the suspect’s escape.
Tracking of missing person’s phone
Another family member, Eniola who had been going to the police station regularly to monitor the case claimed she is frustrated with the whole process as the police keep delaying. In her words, the distraught young woman cried,
“every time I go to the station, they take money from me, even the IPO collected 100,000 Naira for tracking his phone. His phone was tracked to Chinedu, now that the suspect has escaped to Imo State where it was said that the tracking showed the phone was still with him, but the police said they can’t go to Imo to arrest him because of the crisis in the state. Chinedu is the main suspect, all indications proved that and we are still wondering why he has not been arrested till now”.
Nothing we can do, Police reacts!
The Lagos State Police Public Relations Officer, SP Benjamin Hundeyin was contacted and he referred the family to the Deputy Commissioner of Police in charge of the SCID, DCP Waheed Ayilara who told the family that there is nothing the Police can do if it’s a missing person’s case.
Family Pleads With Nigerians
Kingsley’s family through their lawyer, Sodeinde is begging Nigerians for help. The lawyer said the missing person has an aged father, James Ibieorutomwen who is on a sickbed and is always asking after his eldest child.
The lawyer cited the case of hotelier, Rahman Adedoyin who has been sentenced for the murder of Timothy Adegoke while begging the police to do their job and put the family at peace.
Packaged by Oludotun Ajibola
