Fraudsters pose as kidnappers, demand money for my son’s release

Enoch

Two weeks after a three-year-old boy, Enoch Olugbogi, was abducted by unknown person on his way to church at Otto Awori area of Lagos State, he has not been found.
The victim’s distraught father, Mr.Adegboyega Olugbogi, who spoke with our correspondent on phone yesterday, disclosed that some fraudsters have taken advantage of the situation to pose as kidnappers, while demanding money from him. The fraudsters allegedly claimed that the boy was with them.
He said: “We are still hoping in God that Enoch would come back home safely, but the irony of it was that I and my wife received phone calls from different people calling and demanding for money that our son is with them. They demanded that we pay them before Enoch would be released.”
He added: "The first person that called demanded for N500, 000, while the second and third persons asked for N200, 000 and N250, 000 each. According to each and every one of them, if we didn’t meet the demand, Enoch wouldn’t be released. What annoyed me the most was that, I don't know why some people would see traumatised parents like us and want to defraud us. Even if they collected the money from us, do they think they will use it for anything useful?”
Olugbogi further explained that his wife just returned from hospital, where she was admitted because of the trauma of the missing boy.
“Even my grandmother was not spare in the trauma. The Lagos State Commissioner of Police should help us,” said Olugbogi.
Enoch, it was reported, left his grandmother’s house around 10am on February, 24, leaving his breakfast. He went to the United Africa Methodist Church, close to his grandmother’s house, to play with the pastor’s children.
Olugbogi said that it was a normal routine for the boy to go to the Church to play on daily basis.
He said: “His grandmother was still preparing his tea and bread when he saw the pastor's children, and then he ran after them, apparently to play with them in the church. After she waited for him to return and finish his breakfast, she went looking for him at the church. People in the church told her that they didn’t see him. Immediately, search parties were organised in the community and everyone started looking for him. When we couldn’t find him, the matter was reported at the Ijanikin Police Station.”