The yet to be identified woman, was
said to have abducted the three children, four days after she moved into
community and occupied a rented apartment.
The woman took the children from
their parents, said she was going to a nearby shop in the neighbourhood to buy
them confectionaries and biscuits. She disappeared with them.
The abducted children have been
identified as John Segun, five, Darasimi Ilesanmi, two months old
and Fikayami Bankole, three years old.
Although the children belonged to
different to parents, they, however, live in the same building.
The said building is the one the woman
just moved into and disappeared with the three children four days after.
The incident which occurred last
week Sunday, has thrown the community into shock.
The abduction of the children was
discovered after one of the parents, tired of waiting and suspected foul play,
raised the alarm.
One of the parents, Mr. Idowu
Bankole, said: “When I was returning from church that fateful day, I saw the woman
with my son. I never suspected her. My wife left church before me, with our two
children. I couldn’t go with; I was part of the elders in the church and we had
a meeting. When I returned, I met my first child with her mother sleeping. My
wife’s mother told me that our new neighbour took Fikayo out to buy biscuit for
him and other children. When she told me our neighbour took my son and two
other children out, I relaxed. I went to the third street to fix a water tap. I
returned around 4pm and my wife told me that the woman was yet to return with
the children. I encouraged my wife to exercise patient.”
Bankole further said: “After waiting
for about two hours, another victim’s grandmother came out and started
searching for her grandchild. We rushed to Mowe Police Station and reported the
incident. Our landlord and his son who let out the house to the woman was
arrested, but released three days after. We’re appealing to the Ogun State
Commissioner of Police and Governor Ibikunle Amosu, to rescue our children; we
have not been able to sleep since the incident.”
The suspect was said to have taken
Darasimi from her mother where she was washing clothes in the compound. She
even asked the woman to change Darasimi’s clothes that she wanted to take her
out to buy biscuits for her down the street.
Mr Ebenezer Ilesanmi, another
affected father, said: “My wife was with my son in the compound, washing
clothes when our new neighbour approached her. The woman told my wife to bring
our so baby, to assist her to hold, so that she could concentrate on the washing.
She took the baby and promised to return soon.
“After washing, my wife became
worried because the woman was not yet back. Moreover, it was time for the baby
to breastfeed. My wife later went to check the two other kids’ mothers, to know
if their own children had returned. Unfortunately, it was the same thing. It
was at that point that my wife called to tell me what was going on.”
Ilesanmi further narrated: “Immediately,
I left what I was doing and rushed home. I saw a crowd in front of our
compound; everyone was searching for the children. Since then till date, we
have not seen them. Since then, my wife had been weeping, asking for the whereabouts
of her son. I’m appealing to the police to rescue the kids. My son is just an
infant. I don’t know how they will breastfeed him. He is our first child. I
don’t know where or whom to run to. When we broke into the suspect’s apartment
in the presence of the policemen, there was only curtain at the door and
window.”
The landlord of the building, Mr.
Tajudeen Leshi, denied collecting the house rent from the suspect. According to
him, the woman paid to his son.
Leshi said: “I was not around when
the woman and her husband came to inspect the apartment; after they agreed to
move in, they gave my son N30, 000, instead of N50, 000 for a year. Initially,
I refused to collect the money, but my son persuaded me on phone to collect it
from them.
“They promised to balance me N
20,000. When I returned, I told my son to call the woman to get her details.
When she approached me, she said they were from Calabar. I spoke the language
to her only, but she didn’t understand it. She claimed that she was born in
Lagos State and didn’t understand her language. The only mistake I made was
that, because they were rushing to move in, I didn’t get their details. It was
when she abducted the kids; it occurred to me that I had made a grave
mistake. I also blamed the kids’ parents; how can they hand their
children to someone they had just known for only four days.”
When the distraught parents stormed
the Mowe Police Station, the Divisional Police Officer, in charge of the
station, told them investigation would commence immediately.
A few days later, he told the
parents that he had already passed the information to the Ogun State Police
Command, stressing that the Commissioner of Police was aware of the matter. He
further told them to relax that their children would soon be rescued.
Yesterday, speaking with our
correspondent, the Ogun State Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Abimbola
Oyeyemi, expressed shock over the incident. According to him, he was not even
aware of the incident. He, however, promised to get back to our correspondent.
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