When Charity Anyanwu dropped off her niece
Munachiso Anyanwu, at the Lagos toll-gate to
board a vehicle to the commercial city of Onitsha,
Anambra State, little did she know that it would be
the last time they would set eyes on her. Surprisingly, few
hours after they waved goodbye, all efforts to ascertain
whether Muna, as she was popularly called, reached her
destination safely failed as nothing has been heard about her
since then.
It has been three months since they parted as she reportedly
went missing thereafter with her phones switched off. Since
then, members of her family have been making frantic efforts
and searching all corners of the country and beyond without
any trace of her whereabouts. Crime Guard learnt that 29-
year-old Munachiso Goodluck Anyanwu, an indigene of Aboh-
Mbaise, Imo State, went missing on16 December 2014. She
studied Agricultural Economics at Abia State University.
HOW IT HAPPENED
Recounting the incident that led to the disappearance of his
younger sister, Fabian Anyanwu Ezechukwu, told Crime Guard
that before her disappearance, Munachiso Anyanwu worked
with Ogbefere Branch of Diamond bank in Ogbaru Local
Government Area of Anambra state. According to him, she
disappeared on December, 16, 2014. ‘’Prior to that day,
Munachiso went to one Kennedy Uba’s shop and asked him to
open an account with her.
Kennedy told her he already had an existing account with
Diamond bank. He eventually gave her four hundred and forty
thousand naira to pay into her own account to upgrade her
target. When she came home she told me about the money
Kennedy Uba gave her to update her account.
TRIP TO LAGOS
‘’The next day, she told me she had taken casual leave from
her office and that she would be travelling to Lagos for a few
days. After expecting her to return, I called her on December
8, she said she was still in Lagos with our Aunty. That same
day, a friend of mine, Onyemachi paid in N180, 000 into her
account.
My sister called me and asked if I was expecting inflow of
cash, I said yes that a friend of mine sent money to her
account to enable me purchase goods for him. I told her to
withdraw the money and send to me. She said okay she will
do that but she did not travel with her ATM card and where
she was, she couldn’t do any transaction.
ANXIETY OVER HER CONTINUED STAY IN LAGOS
‘’I became very disturbed on December 15, so I called my
aunty to find out what was holding her from coming back
from base because that was festive period and owners of the
money needed it for their business. I told my aunty that she
should send back the money so that I can return it to those
who paid it into her account. She said she will be coming
back the next day. On December 16, I called Munachi but her
phones were switched off.
So, I called my aunty, she said she dropped her at toll gate in
Lagos where she boarded a bus but she didn’t specifically
know the bus she boarded. I became apprehensive and went
to the Federal Road Safety Corps office for them to track if
there was any accident on the road, they called the entire
control unit from Lagos to Onitsha but said there was no
accident.
VISIT TO HER OFFICE
‘’On the December 17th, I felt she might have come back and
went straight to the office. So, I went to their office and one of
their staff named Cynthia, directed me to their manager. I
went to her and identified myself as Munachi’s brother. She
told me that Munachi sent her a text message that she has
resigned from the bank. I asked her if that was the bank’s
procedure for resignation or was was there any fraudulent
transaction or bank’s money that was missing? How can
somebody resign by sending a text message?
SUSPICION OVER ACCOUNT
‘’However, because of the money which Kennedy paid into her
account, I immediately asked the bank manager to freeze
Munachi’s account so that there will be no more withdrawals.
The bank manager was becoming very difficult to deal with.
She was asking me to get police report and court order. I
went straight to the police to get the report and court order. It
took me some days to get the documents, which was on
December 22. I went to the bank with a police officer and the
documents. They received and stamped them.
FRAUDULENT WITHDRAWALS
Surprisingly, at that stage, the Manager told me that
somebody called Nwokpala Michael had been defrauding my
sister for months now. I told her that the name didn’t sound
familiar and that none of our family members bore that name.
She then revealed that out of the N440, 000 she collected
from Mr Kennedy, my sister paid N430, 000 straight to
Nwokpala Michael’s account in the same Diamond bank. Ever
since then, the bank has not been able to assist the family in
any way to locate my missing sister.
I then went to officially report the matter at the Central Police
Station, Onitsha and one Inspector Chukwu Martins, was
assigned as the Investigating Officer of the case. Later, they
said we should go to SSID department for call tracking where I
paid for everything. The SSID brought the flash, they couldn’t
even open it and trace the communication. I was very
annoyed and frustrated. By then, I had spent so much time
and resources without any clue about my sister’s
whereabouts.
TRANSFER TO FHQ, ABUJA
‘’At this point, I requested that the case be transferred to
Force Headquarters, Abuja. I wrote a petition to the Inspector-
General of Police and the case was assigned to the Special
Task Force on Terrorism and Heinous Crimes at Guzape,
Abuja. I went there and I have been working with them but
they have not done much up till date considering the gravity
of the case.
ENGAGEMETNT OF A PRIVATE EYE
They told me to get a private tracker named Williams, that he
will be of help if I can afford his bills. They later called Mr.
Williams and after bargaining, I started remitting money to
him. I have paid him about a Hundred thousand naira yet no
positive result. The only thing he did was that on February 28,
2015, the police asked me to come to Abuja that there was a
soft target at Idah that has been speaking with Nwokpala
Michael and that if we apprehend the soft target, he might
lead us to him.
I quickly prepared for the journey and hired a Sienna bus
which took us to Idah Polytechnic in Kogi state. I went to
there with three police officers and two trackers. We arrested
a lady called Abigail. We couldn’t come back that day so, I
lodged them in a hotel and in the morning, we went back to
Abuja.
RESULT OF TRIP TO IDAH
From the investigation carried out later, we found out that the
girl is also victim. She said she met Nwokpala Michael
through a friend, that he has a brother that is looking for a
wife and she barely knew Michael for three weeks and it was
during that period that he was calling her about 20 times
daily. Later, she was granted bail and we re-scheduled to
meet on March 3, 2015. But, due to the fact that the trackers
haven’t made any headway, I stopped funding them. During
that period, we also gathered from Abigail that there is one
Pastor Sam who is an accomplice with Michael. After this,
both the bank and police have not done anything further over
the case.
FUTILE EFFORTS
‘’We have gone to several groups even in my church, some
said she is alive and that the hand that is holding her is very
strong. It is almost like we are going round a cycle without
making much success. I want the police to do all they can to
rescue my sister. All what I want is my sister, it is very painful
that the bank has not done much for a long time. There was a
time the bank Manager stopped picking my calls.
There was also a time, out of frustration, I went to the bank
and created a scene. She called police officers to walk me out.
Later, I went back there and apologised. I want the bank to
show concern because if it were to be that my sister
defrauded the bank, as the guarantor, I would have been
arrested. Now that the reverse is the case, the bank should
also show concern,’’’he stated.
-VANGUARD
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