Jowizaza’s Father Still Missing as Kidnappers Demand N1.5 Billion

A prominent Nigerian businessman remains missing more than a week after he was abducted from a prayer ground in Anambra State, with his kidnappers now demanding more than double their original ransom and, according to people close to his family, refusing to answer calls.

Chief Sir Joseph Ezeokafor, the septuagenarian chairman of Jezco Group and founder of Jezco Oil, was reportedly seized in the early hours of a recent Tuesday after leaving his residence for what has become an annual tradition of overnight prayer. He is also known publicly as the father of Jowizaza, a Nigerian social media personality with a substantial online following, a connection that has helped push his disappearance into wider public view.

According to a lawyer who first disclosed the abduction, Chukwudi Iwuchukwu, Mr. Ezeokafor set out that morning without the police escort and private guards who normally traveled with him, heading instead to a secluded area near Ifite Awka to pray alone. Armed men are believed to have seized him there and taken him to a location that remains unknown.

A person close to the family, who was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly and spoke on the condition of anonymity, said the kidnappers first demanded 700 million naira, or roughly $460,000 at current exchange rates, and that the family had agreed to pay it in hopes of a quick resolution. The kidnappers then raised their demand to 1.5 billion naira, more than double the original figure, before communication broke off entirely.

“The family has been willing to negotiate and do whatever is necessary to secure his release, but the kidnappers have suddenly stopped communicating,” the person said.

The silence has left relatives unable to confirm Mr. Ezeokafor’s condition or establish any further contact with his captors, according to the family source, compounding an already difficult negotiation with a new layer of uncertainty. Neither the Anambra State Police Command nor the state government had issued a public statement on the case as of this week, leaving few official details about the investigation or the search for Mr. Ezeokafor.

The case has reverberated well beyond his immediate family. In Ekwulobia, the community where Mr. Ezeokafor is from and where he is regarded as its most prominent son, residents reportedly postponed the annual New Yam Festival, a significant local tradition, for the first time in memory after news of the abduction spread.

Kidnapping for ransom has remained a persistent security challenge in parts of Nigeria, including the southeast, where wealthy individuals, clergy and, at times, entire school populations have been targeted by armed groups operating with relative impunity in rural and forested areas. Analysts have long pointed to weak rural policing, porous forest corridors and the lucrative nature of ransom payments as factors that have allowed the practice to persist despite periodic government crackdowns.

For now, Mr. Ezeokafor’s family is left waiting, uncertain whether the abductors’ silence signals a stalled negotiation, a shift in strategy or something more ominous. No timeline has been given for when contact might resume, and it remains unclear whether the family intends to meet the new demand.

This is a distressing situation involving a real kidnapping. If it’s touched close to home for you, it may help to talk it through with someone you trust.