Rivers youth reunites with family 18 years after disappearance

A Rivers State man, Gospel Kinanee, has been reunited with his family 18 years after he disappeared as a teenager.

According to his family, as reported by Arise News, Gospel was 14 years old when he left home one night in 2007 and never returned.

They said they searched extensively for him, including visits to police stations and other institutions, but were unable to locate him.

His brother reportedly revealed that the Nigerian Correctional Service facility where Gospel was eventually found had been visited twice during the family’s search.

Gospel was among 21 inmates released from the Port Harcourt Correctional Centre during the Rivers State Jail Delivery Exercise led by Justice Simeon Amadi.

The family says he had no formal trial and no access to legal representation during his detention.

They also discovered that while they knew him as Gospel Kinanee, the correctional centre’s records identified him as Baridi Sunday.

According to reports, Gospel’s mental health is now the subject of ongoing legal proceedings, raising further questions about the circumstances surrounding his disappearance, detention, identity, and treatment over the past 18 years.