There was confusion everywhere as to what might have happened to him. Suicide was initially suspected however this was not substantiated as no suicide note was discovered, while search parties fruitlessly combed the expanse of the Lagos lagoon for his body.
The family spent days awaiting a call from kidnappers in the event of an abduction, but no call came through. Later on the then governor of Lagos State, Babatunde Raji Fashola (SAN), announced a 10 million naira reward for anyone with useful information on his whereabouts. In addition to that, broadcasts were made on radio and television informing Nigerians of the disappearance.
Despite efforts made by the Fashola administration and his family, the whereabouts of Alhaji Rasak Gawat remain a mystery to date. The family and friends of Alhaji Rasak Gawat held Fidau prayers for him on the 10th of July 2016 according to Islamic injunction on missing persons. As prominent as the case of Alhaji Rasak Gawat was, it is not the only unresolved case of missing individuals in Nigeria as at this moment.
Bukola Olowookere, an employee of Ecobank Bourdillon Branch Ikoyi Lagos has been missing since May 5 2016. Around 7pm on the said day, the mother of one told her husband Adewale in a phone call that she was on her way home from work and that was all. He waited all night for her arrival to no avail. The case was later reported at Ejigbo police station where law enforcement agents swung into action but nothing has come out of the investigation one year afterwards. The woman’s whereabouts are not known despite unconfirmed media reports stating that her bag and phones were found by the police.
The cases of these two individuals constitute less than 1% of the number of people missing in Nigeria annually. According to the National Bureau of Statistics between 2002 and 2016 the Nigeria Police investigated about 3000 cases of missing persons with an average of 5 individuals every week. From January to May 2016 the Police received reports of 100 missing persons and it hasn't stopped since then. Lots of individuals have been found dead with their bodies mutilated, some were found after payment of a hefty ransom to their kidnappers while others were not found at all.
The import of this is that we live in a very insecure country where individuals disappear for no reason. The Nigeria Police Force saddled with the duty of civic protection of lives and property is underfunded and ill equipped as a result they barely get to the root of issues of missing persons unless the affected families mount pressure on the Force.
Though the case of Alhaji Gawat was a topic of national discourse back then in 2012, now in 2017 many have forgotten the man once existed let alone being missing, which is a failure of the government which swore to protect the lives and properties of the citizens.
Poor record keeping practice of security agencies is also a hindrance to finding a solution to the case of missing persons in Nigeria. The moment an officer in charge of an investigation is transferred to another command the case dies a natural death and it stops there as the case file is declared missing most times due to the transfer of the investigation officer as if there was no proper handing over to the current officer in charge by the former .
In the case of Rasak Gawat the current situation of the case is not known. In the course of writing this article I put a call to CSP Jimoh Moshood the Nigerian Police Force P.R.O who promised to call back to give me an update but the update hasn’t arrived one week after. It is worthy of mentioning that between 2012 and 2017 five Inspectors General of Police have served the country and none of them reviewed the case in other to find a lasting solution to it. This is an anomaly that should not exist in a sane society as we need to find solutions to issues to prevent re-occurrence.
More so, the case file of Bukola Olowookere was said to have been transferred to the Force Headquarters and there is no update about it till this moment. As I've said earlier, these two cases make up less than 1% of missing persons in Nigeria. Some of the kidnapped Chibok girls are still being held hostage by the Boko-haram sect after 3years of kidnap. The kidnapped students of Igbonla Model College Epe are still in captivity 40 days after their disappearance.
I would like to use this medium to urge government at all levels to make the security of lives their utmost responsibility as every life counts; security agencies should be equipped and trained to make them more efficient.
That Alhaji Rasak Gawat is still missing five years after is unfortunate and a sign that we are yet to get it right in terms of public safety as a country.
Adesina Tosin Nathaniel is a Forward Looking Nigerian Youth
For more of his writings visit www.donteewrites.blogspot.com
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