Wife of Howard Slim Adikankwu, Vivian, has expressed worries over the inability of Depthwize Nigeria Limited, Seplat Energy, and other relevant bodies to find her husband after two weeks he was declared missing.

Adikankwu is one of the three workers still unaccounted for after the ‘Majestic’, an oil drilling rig owned by Depthwize Nigeria Limited, which was contracted by Seplat Energy, collapsed around the swamps of Ovhor in Delta State on Tuesday, August 15, 2023, while in transit to its drilling location.

Recall that shortly after the incident, Seplat Energy, released a statement stating that the rig had a total of 96 crew members on board, with 92 persons successfully rescued.

“…92 of the 96-member crew are accounted for and safe. However, tragically one fatality occurred during the incident, while three other rig personnel are still missing,” reads the statement signed by the company’s CEO, Mr. Roger Brown.

Speaking to the media at their home in Lekki, Lagos, Vivian laid bare her emotional ordeal as she grappled with the absence of her husband and raised critical concerns about the adequacy of Seplat Energy’s efforts to locate the missing workers.

She is forlorn even with family and relatives around her trying their best to comfort her because she does not know if she will ever see her husband again, or even get to give him a befitting burial. Chances are that he may be dead but the pain she feels is aggravated because she does not have closure.

“The last time I saw my husband was on the 10^th of August when he left for Warri. He went to his location the next day and called to tell me the rig would move from its present location on Saturday and that they would get to Ovhor on Sunday or Monday. And he called me that Monday night and we spoke for some time. In less than 24 hours, I got the sad call about this sad incident”, she narrated while fighting back her tears.

“The following day being Tuesday”, she added, “I tried reaching my husband but to no avail, I thought it was just network issues until I later got a call around 2p.m from one Richard Ogbechie, HR at Depthwize, who told me that he was sorry that my husband was missing.

“I told him my husband left the house five days ago for work. He told me that the rig that my husband was working on submerged around 4 a.m. that day but that their office was alerted by 5 a.m. He said others were rescued but my husband and about four others were missing.

“I called my brother-in-law immediately. I was confused. It’s been more than 14 days now since I last heard from my husband, and no real action has been taken by his employers to locate him. Day after day, we hear promises upon promises, but my husband has not been accounted for.”

Continuing with the heart-rending account, the distraught wife shared how her family and friends are struggling to come to terms with the situation, anxiously awaiting updates while actively seeking any snippet of information they could find on the whereabouts of her husband.

Also speaking, the brother-in-law, Mr. Horace Adinkankwu, disclosed that their father’s burial was scheduled for the upcoming week, noting that their widowed mother was still unaware of her missing son.

Horace, elder brother to the missing Adikankwu, lamented that the company was not in constant communication with them, and would only say something after the grieving wife contacted them. “My major pain is that they don’t even talk to us, we are the ones reaching out to them,” Horace stressed.

When contacted via telephone, to ascertain the progress being made in the search and rescue efforts, the personnel manager at Depthwize, Mr. Richard Ogbechie, said: “I am not authorised to speak with the media. Only my managing director is authorised to speak with the public on this matter.” (Sunday Vanguard)

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