Missing 63-yr-old Engineer: I wash my husband’s favourite chair everyday waiting for his return –Wife

On May 31, 2013, Mr. Abdul-Rasak Olowu, a retired Mechanical Engineer at Etco Nigeria Limited, Lagos, left his home around 10am and never returned. Olowu had told his wife, Abiola, that he was going to a nearby hospital for a medical check-up and to complete a pending treatment for typhoid fever.

 Olowu, 63, has been missing for almost three months and his disappearance has been shrouded in mystery. The family has accused the Overseer of the Celestial Church of Christ, Oloruntoyin Parish, Oworonshoki, Lagos, Mr. Michael Bolaji, of complicity in the disappearance of Olowu based on events that preceded the incident.

Olowu’s wife and four children described his disappearance as painful, but insisted they were still hopeful of his return to them someday. Meanwhile, each passing day without a sign of him tends to put a dent in their faith.

Even Olowu’s favourite chair at the balcony of his residence on Amudalatu Street, Oke-Odo in Agbado/Oke-Odo Local Council Development Area of Lagos State, felt his absence.

The blue plastic chair on which he used to sit and observe his neighbourhood had gathered dust when Saturday Punch visited the family.

Abiola, who appeared gloomy with swollen eyes, said she used to wash Olowu’s favourite chair every day, but recently grew tired of the daily ritual. Abiola said she was washing the chair in anticipation of her husband’s return.

“It’s exactly two months and 17 days that my husband left home and did not return. I still believe in my heart that he is alive and will return to us one day. But wherever he is, I hope he’s in sound health,” she said.

“I believe in God that he will return, though, I’m saddened by the development because everything in my life seems to have paralysed since my husband went missing. We celebrated 35 years of marriage on March 25, this year and we still have so many plans we want to achieve together.

“The incident has turned my life upside down but I still believe he will return to us because I think about him each day and I have been counting each day since he left. I wash his favourite chair every day with the hope that he would return today or the next.”

For Olowu’s first son, Lanre, his father’s disappearance, which came about a week before the arrival of his first baby, Zainab, could not have come at a worse time. Lanre said he wished his father had been present at his daughter’s naming ceremony to perform the traditional rite of naming the baby.

Another child, Mr. Oladimeji Olowu, said their father’s disappearance had affected the family and had particularly been tough on their mother. He said their mother had stopped eating well since the May 31 incident.

Meanwhile, the family has been embroiled in a conflict with the Celestial Church of Christ, Oloruntoyin Parish, Oworonshoki, over the disappearance of Olowu.

According to the family, Olowu once disappeared in a similar fashion and ended up in the church under suspicious circumstances.

Abiola said that on Tuesday, May 28, 2013, Olowu told her he was going to a commercial bank at Iyana-Ipaja, a short distance from their home and did not return until the third day. She said she became worried after about an hour when Olowu did not return.

She said, “That was the first time anything like that ever happened. I called his line and it kept ringing. It was later that I found out that he didn’t go with the phone and that the phone was inside the house all the while. After about two hours, a call came in from a strange number. It was my husband; he said he was in a church at Iyana Oworo, that he would be there for deliverance for three days. I was worried because we’re Muslims.

“I called our children to inform them because they’re grown up and no longer stay with us. I called the strange number repeatedly, but there was no response. Later in the evening, my husband called with the number again and asked me not to tell anyone and that he would be back by the third day. We asked for the location of the church and he described it.”

Abiola said her husband walked into the house around 8pm on Thursday, May 30, 2013, but refused to discuss the incident. She said Olowu also declined to disclose what he needed the prayers for.

She said, “I also invited our children to talk to him.However, a day after Olowu returned home, he left again. But this time, he did not call or return the third day.

“We called the number he had called with from the church and someone picked and said he was not at the church. So we reported the case at Ile-Epo Police Station and went to the General Hospital at Oke-Odo to check if he was there.”

Also, the Olowu family accused the police of initially treating the case with levity.

In addition, the family claimed that the police failed to investigate the matter properly.

Lanre said, “The police really embarrassed us. At first, they didn’t do anything, saying that we were taking the matter too far. It wasn’t until a directive came from Abuja that they decided to visit the church and question the pastors.

“The police later invited three persons from the church, including the church leader, and they repeated the same thing in their statements, although they insisted that he didn’t show up for the three months’ prayer session.”

Saturday PUNCH learnt that eight persons, including Bolaji and his wife, lived in the church compound.

Neighbours, who spoke to our correspondent, ruled out the possibility of Olowu being held in the church, with his consent or otherwise.

“I know that people go there to sleep, including those considered to require special prayers. But I’ve never seen this man (Olowu) there,” the resident said, after being shown Olowu’s picture.

Asked why the church had decided to organise a three-day prayer session for Olowu, Bolaji said, “We saw that he was an elderly man, who was not unconscious. So he knew what he was saying. He told us he ate rat poison; he said he ate it about three weeks ago. It would have been different if he had said he just ate it.”

Our correspondent visited Oke-Odo Police Station to enquire about the status of Olowu’s case. One of the officers on duty said Olowu had not been found.

“If the case was reported here and we’ve not contacted the family, then the man has not been found,” the police officer said.

However, some of the other police officers on duty  offered suggestions on the best ways to assist the family to find Olowu.

One of the officers said, “You (the family) better don’t waste your time. Since you say it’s over two months already, the family should get a powerful spiritual man who sees (visions) very well to help the family  locate the missing man. That’s the best way.”

His colleague, seated by him, added, “The best way is to take his picture and get a policeman to follow you to a media house so that they can announce it there.”

The Police Public Relations Officer, Lagos State Command, Ngozi Braide, promised to find out about the status of the case from the station’s Divisional Police Officer and get back to Saturday PUNCH. However, she did not get back or pick calls made to her mobile phone at the time of writing this report.