Sixteen months after a Globacom Nigeria rollout manager, Mr. Olaoluwa Adetona, was allegedly abducted while on official assignment in Imo State, his wife, Mrs. Funmi Adetona, has called on the company and security agencies to explain what happened to her husband.
Adetona, 49, was reportedly abducted on May 6, 2025, while carrying out a site-acquisition assignment with two expatriates in Imo State.
His wife, 44, said the ordeal began when she called her husband at about 9 p.m. on the day of the incident, only for an unknown person to answer his phone.
She said when she requested to speak with Adetona, the person allegedly insulted her before ending the conversation, raising concerns about her husband’s safety.
Mrs. Adetona said she immediately contacted her husband’s housemate in Imo State, who informed her that Adetona had allegedly been kidnapped.
According to her, the two expatriates who were reportedly with her husband were later released, but Adetona remained in captivity and has not been seen since then.
She said the family was particularly disturbed that the company did not immediately communicate the incident to them, leaving them to seek information about his whereabouts.
Mrs. Adetona alleged that she was later informed that the abductors demanded N1 million before she could speak with her husband.
She said company officials, however, advised her not to contact the kidnappers, assuring her that the situation was being handled and that efforts were being made to secure his release.
According to her, she was subsequently informed that ransom payments had been made and that her husband would soon be released.
“From May, June, July, August, September, November, at the end of the day, they couldn’t tell us anything,” she lamented.
Mrs. Adetona said the anticipated release never materialised, forcing the family to travel to Lagos and Imo State to meet company officials and approach security authorities for assistance.
She said that despite repeated assurances that efforts were being made to locate her husband, the family had yet to receive any conclusive information about his whereabouts.
The prolonged uncertainty, she said, had devastated the family, particularly her children, who constantly ask when their father would return home.
Mrs. Adetona, mather of three, also disclosed that the situation had taken a toll on her husband’s parents, revealing that his father died earlier this year after reportedly struggling with the emotional burden of his son’s disappearance.
She said the family had now engaged a lawyer to pursue the matter after several letters and appeals allegedly failed to yield a satisfactory response.
The distraught wife also questioned how the two expatriates, an Indian and Ivorian, abducted alongside her husband were released while Adetona remained missing, urging security agencies to investigate the circumstances surrounding the incident.
“There is no proof that he is dead. They should produce my husband,” she said, insisting that the family had not been presented with evidence confirming his death.
Mrs. Adetona appealed to the Federal Government, security agencies, Globacom and well-meaning Nigerians to intervene and help establish the whereabouts of her husband.
She further disclosed that following an earlier outcry on Agidigbo FM last year, a delegation from Globacom headquarters visited the family, after which the company commenced payment of her husband’s monthly salary into her account from August 2025, with the narration, “salary for Mr. Olaoluwa Adetona.”
