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A family in Edo State is frantically searching the nooks and crannies of Nigeria for their missing daughter.
The woman, Love Sanni, 27, was said to have vanished into thin air about six months ago, along with her only daughter.
More worrisome for the family is also the disappearance of Love’s husband, Ahmed Sanni, a citizen of Niger Republic.
Since the disappearance of the couple, family members of Love had not been able to sleep with their two eyes close.
They had alerted the Nigeria Police Force and even tabled Love’s picture, hoping that the police formation across the federation would send signals.
But as each day goes without any sign or traces of Love or her child, the family members’ hopes are beginning to dim and wilt.
The mother of the missing girl is said to have taken to praying and fasting, so that God will return safely to her, her daughter and grandchild.
Love’s elder brother Kennedy Opeleko, told the Nigerian Compass that he and other family members were scared of what could have happened to Love, considering that the couple’s disappearance happened in Borno State, the nest of the dreaded Islamic sect, Boko Haram.
Opeleko explained that he and others relatives got worried after repeatedly calls to Love’s phone yielded no response. They had also tried Sanni’s phone and the result was the same.
He said: “Both phones remained switched off. We became uneasy, especially since they’re based in Borno State. Every Nigerian knows what had been happening there. The trouble of the Boko Haram sect is just too frightening. We sent some people to Borno State and low and behold, the house where Love lived with her husband had been razed down by fire.
“We feared the worst. People living around the area later told us that the Joint Task Force came to look for Sanni, that he was a suspected member of the Boko Haram! We heard there was even fighting between the JTF and Islamic people living in the compound. We also heard that the incident happened at about 3am, while people were still sleeping.
Nobody could say who burnt the house and till date, we’ve not heard anything from our sister. I don’t know whether Sanni is a Boko Haram member or not. All I know is that he’s a very religious man. This was one of the things we pointed out to my sister, but she wouldn’t listen!”
Opeleko explained that his kid sister met Sanni in Edo State, Benin, some years ago, while the man was running a Bureau De Change. He said he and others were stunned when Love told them that she wanted to marry Sanni and needed their blessing.
“We kicked against the affair. We didn’t want our sister to marry a Muslim. We even threatened to disown her. But before we knew it, she had gotten pregnant! She was our mother’s favourite. Our mother supported her.
It was even our mother who first became sick with worry when Love’s phone didn’t go. She said she had a foreboding that somewhere was wrong. She had been crying since Love went missing. The worst aspect of the whole incident is our not knowing whether Love is alive or dead,” said Opeleko.
He recollected that after Love moved to Borno State with Sanni and the Boko Haram insurgence intensified, they had tried to make Sanni returned to Benin, but he had adamantly refused. They had also pointed out the danger to Love, in staying put in such a war zone, but she had insisted she wanted to stay with her husband.
