Chief Benjamin Nwosu, a resident of Umuokeh in Imo State, has cried out over the prolonged silence of the Anambra State Vigilante Group (AVG) and the Anambra Police Command concerning the disappearance of his son, Ekene Valentine Benjamin, during a security operation in August 2024.
In January 2025, Chronicles Reporters first documented Chief Nwosu’s confrontation with the AVG regarding the unexplained absence of his son, who went missing on August 9, 2024, while working with the group in Anambra State. According to the father, Ekene had served with the vigilante group for three years until the date he last communicated with him.
Chief Nwosu revealed that after losing contact with Ekene, he reached out to a certain Chidera on August 16, 2024. Chidera, who was instrumental in introducing Ekene to the vigilante group, informed him that the commandant at Ukpo, known as Mr. White, had sent Ekene along with a few others on a mission. While others returned, Ekene never made it back.
Following this, Nwosu traveled to Anambra to meet with Chief Ihenko Chinenye, the AVG’s General Commandant, popularly referred to as Okpompi. He said Okpompi admitted that his son had been sent on an errand with others, but gave no concrete information regarding his whereabouts, merely stating he didn’t know whether Ekene was dead or alive.
Despite multiple efforts, Chief Nwosu said, his search has yielded no results. In a bid to escalate the matter, he submitted a petition to the Anambra State Commissioner of Police on September 20, 2024. The case was handed to a Deputy Commissioner of Police, who instructed the Investigating Police Officer to invite the AVG commandants for questioning.
However, neither of the commandants responded to the summons. Instead, a man claiming to be a liaison officer appeared. The DCP directed the IPO to obtain the man’s statement and instructed him to urge the AVG to investigate the case and locate Ekene — dead or alive — before the end of December.
When Chronicles Reporters reached out to AVG’s General Commandant, Okpompi confirmed that Ekene went missing during their operation but criticized Chief Nwosu’s handling of the situation. He claimed that the father had only sent one Mr. Okey to his office and expressed displeasure that a petition was sent to the State CID rather than working with the AVG directly.
In a phone interview, Okpompi lashed out at Nwosu, saying, “That man doesn’t really know anything. It was one Okey he sent to me. The governor was informed about the operation. Even a military officer got lost during the mission. If he wants to report to Abuja, let him. I didn’t kill his son.”
He acknowledged that casualties occurred during the operation and that one vigilante from Amichi had died and been buried. However, he maintained they have not seen or heard from Ekene since.
“He can go ahead and make any case he wants. I’m not an unknown gunman. We all went on duty. I didn’t force his son to join. People died that day,” Okpompi added.
The AVG commandant went on to say that Ekene might have been abducted or could have even joined the attackers voluntarily. “These boys sometimes turn around and join the people we’re fighting. This is not unusual in conflict zones.”
He accused Nwosu of being misled and acting irrationally, saying, “Whoever is advising him is destroying him. We’ve already officially written to the police about this. My conscience is clear.”
The AVG boss also emphasized that Ekene was part of their group and described the bond between them as sacred, stating, “Anyone who joins us enters a covenant — he’s part of our blood.”
When contacted, the Anambra Police Public Relations Officer, SP Tochukwu Ikenga, initially confirmed the incident and promised to look into it. However, follow-ups by Chronicles Reporters in April and May 2025 yielded no updates from the police.
Speaking again on July 18, Chief Nwosu expressed frustration, saying both the police and the vigilante group had neglected the matter and ignored all his pleas. “It’s not like my son just went missing on his own. He was on duty with AVG when it happened. Now no one wants to take responsibility,” he lamented.
He shared his ordeal of visiting various government offices and approaching civil society organizations, all to no avail. The pain of uncertainty, he said, has been compounded by the indifference from those in positions of authority.
When Chronicles Reporters reached out once more to SP Ikenga on April 30, he said, “Thank you for this information. I will escalate this.” But subsequent follow-ups on May 12 and May 30 received no meaningful update, with the final response being, “Let ask again please.”
With each passing month, Chief Nwosu’s hope dims further. “I have done everything humanly possible to find my son or get a meaningful answer. Till today, no action has been taken. He was not just anyone. He was part of AVG, and now he’s been abandoned,” he concluded.
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