Missing Teen Reunites With Family After 18 Years Inside Correctional Centre

(Gospel Kinanee. Photo Credit; Vampz)

A Rivers State man, Gospel Kinanee, has been reunited with his family 18 years after disappearing as a teenager.

According to his family, as reported by a television interview, Gospel was 14 years old when he left home one night in 2007 and never returned.

They said they carried out an extensive search for him, including visits to police stations and other institutions, but were unable to locate him.

His brother reportedly disclosed that the correctional facility where Gospel was eventually found had actually been visited twice during the family’s earlier search efforts.

Gospel was among 21 inmates released from the Port Harcourt Correctional Centre during a state jail delivery exercise led by Justice Simeon Amadi.

His family says he never had a formal trial and was denied access to legal representation throughout his detention.

They also discovered that while they had always known him as Gospel Kinanee, correctional centre records identified him under a different name, Baridi Sunday.

According to reports, Gospel’s mental health is now the subject of ongoing legal proceedings, raising further questions about the circumstances surrounding his disappearance, detention, identity and treatment over the past 18 years.

Family reunites with their son after discovering he had been arrested and detained in a maximum-security prison in Rivers State when he was just 14 years old. He spent 18 years in prison before he was finally found by his family. pic.twitter.com/9VGFS3Ui9i

— CHUKS 🍥 (@ChuksEricE) July 3, 2026