Two university lecturers declared missing in Calabar, whereabouts unknown
The whereabouts of two lecturers from the University of Cross River (UNICROSS), Engr. Emmanuel Odu and Engr. Vincent Ndifon, have remained unknown for nearly two months after they were declared missing by the Institution’s management.
The lecturers, both from the Department of Mechanical Engineering, were last seen on Friday, May 23, 2025, near Imo State, while on their way to Calabar.
They were reportedly returning from Lagos, where they had gone to purchase a car.
According to Circular No. 478, issued and signed by the university’s Registrar, Victor Ephraim Ene, “the Acting Vice Chancellor and members of the University’s Management Team have been in constant communication with the Cross River State Commissioner of Police and the Director of the Department of State Services (DSS) regarding the missing lecturers”
The university disclosed that both security officials in Cross River were working closely with their counterparts in Imo State to locate the missing staff.
Alarmed at the unexplained disappearance, the university management expressed empathy toward the families and friends of the victims, urging members of the public with useful information to contact relevant security agencies or call the phone number provided in the institution’s public notice.
However, 57 days after their last known contact, the two lecturers are yet to be found, neither has a word been heard from or of them
The missing lecturers share several things in common: they were childhood friends, both studied Mechanical Engineering, and both are 32 years old. An uncle of Engr. Emmanuel Odu, Mr. Ferdinand Okwor, told Vanguard that the duo went missing in Imo State on their way back to Calabar after traveling to Lagos to purchase a vehicle.
All efforts to locate them have yielded no results, as there has been no contact from their abductors. It has been almost two months without them, with devastating mental, emotional, and physical consequences for their families,” Mr. Okwor lamented.
He added, “While Emmanuel Odu, a former SUG president of the University of Cross River, is the only son of his parents, Vincent Ndifon is a young father with an infant child.”
“We are therefore appealing to the President and father of the nation, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, to intervene and mandate the Inspector General of Police (IGP) to mobilize a search-and-rescue team to secure their release,” he pleaded (Vanguard, but rejigged)
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