By Uche Mbah
It has been a long torturous wait for the Pastor of Grace of God Mission, Ikenna Nnadi, since his disappearance last February under controversial circumstances.
His disappearance continues to be dogged by intrigues, denials, inactions, and cover-ups by the authorities concerned.
The story began on Wednesday, 3rd February 2021, when his elder brother, Uchenna Nnadi, received a text message from an unknown number. The text message simply read: “With heavy hearts, Utchi District Pastor, Ikenna Nnadi’s station found it hard to break this sad news to you that Pastor Ikenna (Nnadi) was involved in a water accident and haven’t been seen till now after much search”.
Not quite clear as to the import of the message, Uchenna waited. The following day, the text message was repeated, apparently re-forwarded to his number. And that began the bizarre journey of unraveling what happened to the Pastor.
A follow-up call to the number was able to provide a sketchy account of what happened. It turned out that the person who sent the text message (names withheld) is only a lay member of the congregation, and was not even officially qualified to speak on the issue. But he recounted the following story.
It was said that Ikenna went to their Church meeting on the 3rd of February at Utchi, Ugboma, in Ndokwa North of Delta State on 3rd of February 2021, with two other pastors. After the meeting, they were on their way back, the speed boat carrying them took in more passengers.
The boat was carrying the two Pastors and seven others, including three women, apart from Ikenna. It was said to have capsized and the only person that was drowned was allegedly Ikenna.
“The Family made attempts, though unsuccessful, to contact the General Overseer of the Church, Bishop Paul Nwachukwu Jnr, who is the current head of the Church and the son of the Founder of the church”, Nnadi told this Magazine.
All the calls were ignored until he sent text messages.
The following conversations took place.
Uchenna: We are having a great challenge locating my younger brother, Pastor Kevin Nnadi of Okpai Ibusu, Grace of God.
Paul Jr: Is he missing
Uchenna: That appears to be so, we have no clear information from his district/station after they attended church meetings across the river.
Paul Jr: Do you have the no of their leader
Uchenna: Nope, except for a number that sent me a text that my brother is missing:
After these conversations, the family waited for any further information but none was forthcoming. The Church made no efforts to contact the family of the missing Pastor. Not even his wife, who is one of them, was communicated with. The wife has been battling with trauma and has been admitted to a hospital (name withheld) since the news filtered in that has husband was missing. After waiting in silence, the family decided to go to the church station where he pastored. The terrain was riverine, and difficult to navigate. So on 10th February 2021, they filed a missing person’s report at the local police station, which was the divisional Police Post, Ashaka, Ndokwa East Local government area. There, it was found out that the Church has made no entry about the missing Pastor to the Police.
This seemed strange to the family of the missing person, who had to mobilize the police to search for those who were with the pastor in the boat.
Subsequently, the vigilante group in the area was called in to help the Police navigate the terrain, and arrests were made of those that traveled with him to the meeting, including the boat driver and the host pastor for the meeting. The reason given by the police not to have been able to affect the arrests alone was that the riverine place has been a difficult and hostile environment for the police as they are known to violently resist arrests.
Some police officers had lost their lives while trying to effect arrests there.
There appears to be a palpable lack of will to prosecute by the local police.
In fact, there were alleged threats by both the community and Church authorities to the family of the missing persons for daring to report the case to the police. But the local police eventually approved of the transfer of the case to the State Criminal Investigations Department, Asaba. This was on 23rd February 2021.
The suspects were moved to the state headquarters the following day.
It was only after the transfer of the case to Asaba that the Bishop decided to call the family and, in a condescending manner, tried to talk them out of continuing with the case without providing any hope of resolution. He was angrier about the family reporting the case to the police than anxiety over his missing pastor.
This attitude was bizarre, to say the least. And after that, the family started feeling dissatisfied with the way the state police were handling the case that they resolved to petition the Inspector General of Police on the issue.
By then, the suspects have been released from custody.
In a petition dated 15th February 2021, and addressed to the DIG, FIB Abuja, the family Lawyer petitioned the IG on the Issue. On March 10, 2021, a detachment of police detectives arrived in Asaba to take over the case.
Ikenna had graduated from GGM’s theology school in Ọnịcha, Anambra State, and ordained a pastor in 2012. In November 2014 he was posted to the riverine area of Ọkpai Ibusu, and there he has been till the 3rd of February, 2021.
Due to the terrain he worked in, he moved his family out of the parish but remained there. He was, however, always in contact with the family before the unfortunate incident.
Efforts to reach Nwachukwu Jnr by this Magazine were fruitless as his phone was said not to be reachable.
