SAD! Ghanaian Boy Missing Three Months After Police Raided A Street In Ajah

The family members of a 21-year-old Ghanaian, Etroo Mensah, are anxious about the whereabouts of their son three months after he was arrested along with some suspected thugs by a police team which raided Ikota, in the Ajah area of Lagos. Etroo’s mother, Elizabeth Mensah, and his elder brother, Napoleon, had visited all police divisions in the Ajah area for the young man, but were told by the police that Etroo was not in their custody.

Punch Metro reports that the fruitless search had thrown the family into panic as the police continued to deny that they arrested Etroo. On Saturday, March 14, at about 6am, Etroo, whose family hails from Elmina, Central Region, Ghana, and lived in Ikota, Ajah, had gone to buy something from a shop on the street.

Apolice patrol had raided the street and arrested some street urchins allegedly smoking hemp. Etroo was one of the people arrested along with the suspected hemp smokers. Etroo, who came to Lagos with his brother, Napoleon, in February 2014, had reportedly called his brother on the phone, saying he was being detained at the Ajah Police Division, Ajiwe.

The family, on getting to the station, was reportedly told by the police that although there was a police raid on the street, Etroo was not among the suspects arrested. Sadly, the family has not seen or heard from the 21-year-old since that time.

Speaking with Punch Metro, 25-year-old Napoleon, who works in a restaurant in Lekki, said the mother was distraught, as the police had refused to open up on the matter. He added that the father, who stays in Takoradi, Ghana, had not been briefed on the matter as the family hoped that Etroo would be found.

He said, “I was at work on that Saturday. Etroo had gone to a shop at about 6am. The police came to our area in Ikota, Ajah, and arrested some boys who were smoking hemp. “He was arrested along with the smokers. The moment he got to the police station, he called me on the phone that he had been arrested and was in Ajiwe. I was still speaking with him when I overheard a policeman ordering him to bring the phone. 

“Both of us had stayed in Lagos for only a year. I was not used to Lagos, so I could not trace him to the police station on the same day. On Sunday, a friend, my mother and I went to the station and we described Etroo to the policemen, requesting to see him. They told us they did not have any Mensah, adding that they had a Mansah in their record, a name used for a lady in our language.”

The family was thereafter directed to the Ikoyi Police Division, from where they were redirected to the command headquarters in Ikeja. Napoleon said the family was also asked to go to police divisions in Badagry to inquire about the matter. He noted that since March 14, 2015, the family had not seen or heard from Etroo.

He said, “When we got to Ikoyi, we were told that they never saw anyone like my brother. They then asked us to go to Ikeja. It was only my mother who went to Ikeja. From there, the police asked us to go to Badagry which we also did. We gave them his name, his picture and some money. Later, a policeman called us to say they did not find him. “I think if the police arrest someone, they have to let the person get across to his family so that his people can show up to see him. But since March 14, we have not set eyes on Etroo.”

Etroo, who completed Junior Secondary School in Ghana before coming to Nigeria, is the fourth of five children and he wanted to become a musician.

The Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Kenneth Nwosu, said the police in Ajah did not have a record of Etroo’s arrest, adding that the family should see the Divisional Police Officer.