UPDATED: Boy Who Went Missing at Age 14 Returns After Four Years as a Prison Inmate in Port Harcourt

Eighteen-year-old boy who was declared missing since he was 14, has been spotted among inmates released from the Port Harcourt correctional center.

Gospel Kinanee, an Ogoni indigene in Rivers State, was just 14 years old when he left home one night in 2007 and never returned, leaving his family with uncertainty and years of desperately searching for him.

He waa however found among inmates released during the Rivers State Jail Delivery Exercise flagged off by the Chief Judge of Rivers State, Justice Simeon Amadi. Gospel.

How  Kinanee became an inmate is a story yet to be unravelled but he was among the 21 inmates released from the correctional facility.

Narrating the ordeal the family went through while searching for him, his elder brother, Paul Kinanee said, “we searched everywhere extensively looking for him, visiting several police stations and other relevant institutions without success”.

Paul Kinanee Gospel’s Elder brother narrating the incident

He revealed that the Port Harcourt Correctional Centre where Gospel was eventually found had been visited twice during the search, but no trace of him was discovered at the time.

‎The family was shocked to discover that while they knew him as Gospel Kinanee, prison records identified him as Baridi Sunday, raising questions about how his identity was changed and the circumstances surrounding his incarceration.

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‎Available information indicates that Gospel spent years in custody without a formal trial or access to legal representation, further deepening concerns about due process and the administration of justice.

‎Arise TV repors his mental health has reportedly deteriorated significantly during his prolonged detention and has now become the subject of ongoing legal proceedings.

The development has sparked renewed calls for greater oversight of Nigeria’s correctional system, particularly regarding the prolonged detention of inmates awaiting trial, proper inmate identification, and access to legal representation.

‎Authorities are yet to publicly explain how the teenager ended up in custody under a different identity or why he remained incarcerated for nearly two decades without his family’s knowledge.