Pascal Oparada
There was a palpable fear over the whereabouts of an artisan simply identified as Gabriel, who has not been seen since October second week.
According to Chuks Itegbe who engaged Gabriel, whose bank details show his name as Aremo Ajibola for work most times, he noticed that Gabriel became unreachable after the #EndSARS protest that rocked Nigeria in October.
“I wanted to contact him to come and finish up the painting on my new property, but I noticed that his phone lines were all switched off. I tried several times but I couldn’t reach him,” says Itegbe.
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Itegbe said he usually drops off Gabriel with one of his friends, who gave his name as Gbenga in Ogba area of Lagos where he usually passes the night. When our reporter contacted Gbenga he said he is also worried about Gabriel’s whereabouts.
Gbenga said he went as far as going to the church in Oke-Aro near Iju-Ishaga area of Lagos where Gabriel also sleeps sometimes but the pastor told him that Gabriel has not been seen for some time.
“I have searched for Gabriel but I did not see him,” says Gbenga. “I’ve gone to the Apostolic Church in Oke-Aro, near the pig farm, where he sleeps but the pastor said he has not seen him since October,” Gbenga said.
According to Gbenga, he has also reached out to Gabriel’s sibling on Facebook to find out if he knows where he might be but did not receive any reply to date.
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When our reporter visited the church, the pastor in charge, Oloyede Olarenwaju, said he is also afraid as to what must have happened to Gabriel whom he described easy going and hardworking young man.
When contacted on the phone, the Lagos State Police Public Relations Officer, Olumuyiwa Adejobi said the state command will conduct a search to know if Gabriel is detained in any of its station. He requested that he should be given time to conduct proper investigation.
