Four years after the kidnap of an octogenarian, Lady Roseline Ughanze from her son’s house in Alor, Idemili South local government of Anambra State, her family has called on the police and other security agencies in Nigeria to conclude investigation into the matter.
The Ughanze family in a chat with journalists yesterday in Awka through their counsel, Mr Odinaka Obiorah said the conclusion of investigation will help bring to book the perpetrators of the crime and also set the family’s mind at rest as to whether their matriarch is still alive or dead.
Obiaorah said the family still has a strong belief that Mrs Ughanze who was 80 as at the time of his kidnap last four years was still alive, but said that a thorough investigation will also reveal if she was dead.
“We call on the police and other security agencies to rise up to their duty as we are not in doubt as to those who kidnapped our mother. Justice should take its course no matter who is involved or how powerful they are, ” he said.
They reminded the police that the phone number used in demanding ransom from her family by the abductors, had surrendered to the police to ease their investigation, but expressed surprise that the police after tracing and arresting the owners of the cell phone numbers, released them.
Obiorah said, “It is the position of the family that they do not know if their mother has been killed or still alive but they know that petitions and other similar letters being circulated by the detractors have killed the search for Lady Roselyn Ughanze.
“The authors of the said petition and letters are putting up smiling cheeks to Lady Roselyn Ughanze’s discomfort and her family’s predicament over same. It is, to say the least, unconscionable or unfortunate or both.
“I announce the family’s plea to those who have access to Lady Roselyn Ughanze, their beloved mother, to let her know if she has not been killed that the detractors killed all the family’s efforts to locate her. She should be told also that the family, though down now, but have not given up in their search for their mother.”
He however expressed confidence in the police and their ability to find Ughanze and also track down her abductors, calling on them to continue and conclude investigation in the matter.
“The family is also appealing to the general public who may have any useful information on the circumstance of Lady Roselyn Ughanze’s abduction or her whereabouts or whereabouts of her remains to contact the police or the family’s Solicitors.”
It would be recalled that Lady Ughanze was kidnapped in the early hours of 23rd June 2012 as she prepared to leave for morning mass by unknown persons, and efforts to rescue her had led her abductors to dump any further contact with the family for ransom.
Before her eventual kidnap, our correspondent gathered that a previous attempt had been made on her, in which she was lucky to escape.
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