Ayowole Adekonipekun, a resident of Osogbo, Osun State, has appealed to the Inspector-General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, to help in locating his wife, Corporal Ruth Ayowole, who went missing while on official duty in Abia State.

He told the News Agency of Nigeria on Friday that his missing wife enlisted in the Force with service number 068986.

Adekonipekun, who spoke in Osogbo, the Osun State capital, said Ayowole was serving with the Anti-Robbery Unit of the Osun State Police Command.

The husband said that Ayowole and four of her colleagues went missing on February 13, 2024 after an ambush during their official assignment to Abia State.

Adekonipekun said that his wife and other officers left Osogbo on February 12 and spent the night at a hotel in Asaba, the Delta State capital.

According to him, he later learnt that they were ambushed between Anambra and Abia States.

He said” “I chatted with my wife till around 8:10am on February 13 before they set out for the journey, but two hours later, when I tried to contact her, her number was not reachable.

“I later lodged a complaint with the Officer in-Charge of the Anti-Robbery Unit and the Commissioner of Police, who informed me that they had sent a follow-up team to verify the state of the missing officers.

“It was later we heard that one of the officers named Sodiq had escaped the ambush and returned to Osogbo, but didn’t know what happened to the rest of the team.”

The husband of the police woman said since then, there had been no news about the missing police officers.

Adekonipekun said: “Myself and others have sent petitions to the Police Service Commission, Zone lX in Osogbo and the State Police Command about the whereabouts of the officers, but there has been no response.

“I want to appeal to the I-G to please unravel the whereabouts of my wife and other officers.

“It has not been easy to live without my wife in the last two months.”

When contacted, Yemisi Opalola, the spokesperson of the Osun State Police Command, said the command and that of Imo State as well as the Nigerian Army have been working to find the missing officers.

Opalola, a Superintendent of Police, said the families of the missing officers had met with the Commissioner of Police in the state, Mohammed Umar-Abba, who briefed them on the efforts being made to trace the missing officers.

Umar-Abba urged them to exercise more patience.