Find my husband, wife of missing activist, Justice Mark Chidebere cries out

By Jude Opara

Mrs. Theresa Chidera Mark, wife of the missing activist, Justice Chidiebere Mark has called on security agencies in the country to do whatever they can do to ensure that her husband who was said to have gone missing since Tuesday, April 28.

Addressing newsmen in Abuja on Thursday, a visibly distraught Theresa Chidera Mark while narrating her husband’s ordeal said she has not been able to see or hear from her husband after dropping her off alongside their little child on the fateful day.

“I called my husband last time on Tuesday, that was the last time I heard from him, only for his friend to call me in the afternoon, around 12:40 or so, telling me that my husband had just called him to pick me and my daughter up. I said I was confused, you know. I said let me call you back, let me call my husband. And that was how I called my husband’s line; it wasn’t going through. It was saying not reachable. But I sent him a message on WhatsApp. It wasn’t going through.

“Then I called his friend back to tell him that the person you said called him, I cannot reach him. You know, he called him. He said let him call me back, and then he called me back and said his own line was also not going through. He tried to calm me down and said my husband said he is in a meeting and that the meeting is going to be very long.

“I didn’t understand at first. He took me home and I waited at home. My mind was not at rest because it is unlike him not to message me or tell me he will be late or something. As late as midnight, I went on social media to look for Peters’ number, and that is how I got his WhatsApp number to ask if the meeting was not over. And he told me there was no meeting to even start with.

“I became scared. I was like, my husband never told me he went for a meeting, and he said there was no meeting, that if there was any meeting he would have been involved. Then I became very worried and he made some calls but couldn’t find my husband anywhere.

“My husband is not a criminal. He is just a simple father with two kids. I don’t know what he has done to deserve this. I just heard that he was tied up since Tuesday till yesterday, under the sun, for what I don’t know.
He is just an activist. That is all. He is not a criminal, he is not a bad person. Please, just release my husband to me. My daughter hasn’t seen her father for quite a while. She has been running temperature during this time.

“I have tried everything. Since that Tuesday I have been calling his line. It rang once and nobody picked. Since then, it has not rang again. The messages I have been sending only show delivered. I am confused. It is unlike him. If he is late, he will call me. He has never slept outside the house.
Please, Nigerian government, I need you to bring my husband back to me and my children. They need their father. My daughter is just six years old. My son is just 11 months. They do not deserve this”.

Also speaking, Peter Akah (Peter of Nigeria) who was with Mrs. Mark at the briefing said the missing Justice Chidiebere Mark is his friend who is also involved in social advocacy.

“Her husband is my friend, and we are all in the advocacy space. You see him online demanding justice, freedom, and accountability. It is unfortunate what happened because she called me on Tuesday night, that was Tuesday, 28th of April, saying she had not heard from her husband and asking if he was with me or if we had a meeting. I said no, we did not have any meeting. I last heard from him last Saturday. So, having made those calls, it became clear his whereabouts were unknown.

“We then approached the police, FCT Command, yesterday morning. Myself, his wife, Mr. Peter here, and Flagboy Osita met with the Commissioner of Police. They began investigations and sent his phone numbers for tracking.
Meanwhile, one of his neighbours accessed his personal computer, which is linked to one of his phones, to check the last location of the device. The last recorded location on Tuesday at about 5pm was around the Nigerian Army Officers’ Wives Shopping Complex, Asokoro.

“When we went to the police, they did not have that information initially, but we later informed them. The CP’s team also carried out tracking and returned with preliminary findings. By around 10am the next day, messages that were previously not delivering started delivering, meaning the device had been turned on and off again. By evening, the police tracking also pointed to the same area”.

He therefore appealed to the security agencies to find the missing activist so that he could rejoin her young family.