A mother in Okene, Kogi State, has appealed for assistance in finding her daughter, Hamidat Abdulrafiu, who went missing on June 18, 2024, after leaving to meet a customer in Lokoja.
Mrs. Ramot Yakubu, the mother of the missing Hamidat, revealed that all attempts to reach her daughter’s phone have been unsuccessful since June 19.
Mrs. Ramot stated that Hamidat’s whereabouts were traced to Abuja, but there has been no news of kidnapping or accident, and efforts to bring her back home have been fruitless, even after reporting the incident to the police.
She said, “Hamidat is a businesswoman who sells unisex clothes and she normally travels to Lokoja to go and meet her customers and collect money for goods they might bought in credit.
“When she got to Lokoja, she called me that she was there. And it was later in the morning on the 19th when I started chatting with her and there was no response that I sensed trouble. I dialled her number and it was not reachable throughout that day up till now.
“I have another daughter at the Federal University, Lokoja, so I called her if her elder sister was at her place but she said no.”
She said her friend who stayed in her place returned from Abuja on the 19th as well and it was people in the compound that said she left around 8:00 pm on the 18th after receiving a call.
According to her mother, the compound residents stated that Hamidat left behind all her belongings, including her clothes, bathing soap, and body cream, and even the food she had asked someone to buy for her was found untouched in her room.
When asked if she had received any ransom demands or threatening calls, Mrs. Yakubu replied that there had been no such contact.
John Stephen, a police officer from Adavi Police Divisional Headquarters in the state, confirmed the incident, stating, “According to her family, nothing of such has not happened where she would go for days without returning home.”
