BREAKING: Gospel Kinanee has reunited with his family in Port Harcourt after he disappeared as a teenager and spent 18 years in detention.
PORT HARCOURT, RIVERS — Gospel Kinanee, a Rivers State man who disappeared in 2007 at the age of 14, has reunited with his family after authorities released him from the Port Harcourt Correctional Centre during a jail delivery exercise. His family shared the details in a report by Arise TV and said they had searched for him for nearly two decades without success.
According to the family, Gospel left home one night in 2007 and never returned. His relatives said they visited police stations and several institutions in search of him but failed to locate him. They also revealed that they visited the correctional facility where he was eventually found on two different occasions during their search.
The family said they only discovered his whereabouts after authorities released him alongside 20 other inmates during the Rivers State Jail Delivery Exercise led by Justice Simeon Amadi. They also stated that Gospel had no formal trial and did not receive legal representation during his years in detention.
According to the report, another discovery shocked the family. While they knew him as Gospel Kinanee, records at the correctional centre reportedly identified him as Baridi Sunday. The family has not explained how the name difference occurred, and officials have yet to issue a public statement on the matter.
The Rivers State Jail Delivery Exercise forms part of efforts to reduce congestion in correctional facilities and review cases involving inmates who have spent long periods in detention. Cases of prolonged detention without trial have remained a major concern among legal experts and human rights groups across Nigeria.
The development means authorities may face fresh questions over the circumstances surrounding Gospel Kinanee’s detention and the processes that allowed him to remain in custody for 18 years without trial. It also highlights the challenges families face when searching for missing relatives and the need for regular reviews of detention records in correctional centres across the country.
