Child Trafficking: We prayed endlessly, mothers of rescued children speak

In a ceremony mixed with immense relief and emotions from a harrowing ordeal, the Adamawa State Government reunited 14 trafficked minors with their families.  The children, aged between 4 and 9 years, were rescued from a notorious trafficking network led by Ngozi Abdulwahab, who sold them at various prices, ranging from N800,000 to N1.7 million […]

In a ceremony mixed with immense relief and emotions from a harrowing ordeal, the Adamawa State Government reunited 14 trafficked minors with their families. 

The children, aged between 4 and 9 years, were rescued from a notorious trafficking network led by Ngozi Abdulwahab, who sold them at various prices, ranging from N800,000 to N1.7 million per child, while giving them new names. For instance, she changed one Umar Faruk’s name to “Lagos Boy.”

Weekend Trust, which was present at the emotional reunion ceremony, reports that the atmosphere at the Adamawa State Deputy Governor’s Office was one of mixed feelings filled with profound sadness and immense joy as 14 abducted and trafficked children who were rescued were reunited with their families. Some of the minors were abducted in Jambuta a community in Adamawa under Yola-North Local Government Area and others abducted in Mubi Local Government Area

 

 Trauma in the midst of joy 

Tears of joy by parents, relatives and the rescued children filled the air during the occasion. In the euphoria of joy and tears from all present, one parent cried in pain and anguish.

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Fauziya Suleiman wept bitterly because her son was not part of the rescued children; hence her hope of reuniting with him dimmed. Her four-year-old Yazidu Suleiman was abducted on his way to buy some groceries around 11am.

She said her son was abducted while she was in the hospital after undergoing surgery, noting that they searched everywhere at Jambutu community without success. Fauziya added that she could not sleep that night.

“Yazidu was abducted when he was four years and fours month old. It has been a year since his abduction but the pain still feels fresh in my heart. I was full of hope when I heard that some children were rescued from the hands of the kidnappers, but the little hope I had vanished when I got to know that my Yazidu was not found,” she narrated.

She urged everyone and the state government to include her in their prayers for the safe return of her child. She also thanked the Adamawa State Government for the efforts made so far.

Mrs Munira Suleiman, another parent who struggled to hold back her tears, told Weekend Trust that her six-year-old son, Musa Suleiman, was abducted on his way to an Islamic school around 4pm. She said her abductor lured him by asking him to show her where she could buy tomatoes. Since then, he has not been found.

The soft-spoken mother prayed for the safe return of her son, pleading with the state government to intensify efforts in the search for him.

 

Mixed emotions

Among the rescued children, who was reunited with her mother, Hassana Dauda, was an eight-year-old Nusaiba Dauda. She was abducted at 7 on her way to Islamiyya (Arabic school. Her mother narrated the trauma she went through during that period, which she said led to three miscarriages.

Four-year-old Habiba Musa, who nowspeaks english instead of her native Hausa language, tearfully recounted her experience w.ith her abductors.

After being with her abductors for four months said she and other children were held in a large house and fed me ba and fufu. 

They said, they were also enrolled in a programme where they were taken to church, made to dance to music, and taught how to say “Amen.”

Habiba’s mother, Mrs Musa, says she observed that her daughter has passion for dancing since her return. 

“She sometimes dances even when there is no music playing.” She said.

“The experience was deeply traumatic. Life has not been the same. The experience completely destabilised my mental health. The moment I was told that she had been found, while still on my hospital bed, I felt an immense relief and the news alone revitalised me,” she narrated.

Mrs Dauda gave thanks to God and applauded the Adamawa State Government for rescuing the children.

Seven-year-old Nusaiba Dauda speaking, recalled being cared for by two women she knew as Mummy Grace” and Aunty Mercy, who would help bathe her. 

The young girl said they were given delicious meals, including rice and beans with eggs, chicken spaghetti, garri, and vegetables. She also said that her abductors took them to church, but noted with a child’s innocence that the uniform made for her was too small. 

At first, she said she cried because she wanted to see her parents, but was always told by her abductors they would be returned the next day, a promise they kept postponing until the day she was finally rescued.

Her mother, Hassana Dauda, recounted the harrowing ordeal of her disappearance. 

She narrated thatNusaiba had returned from school in the afternoon and was due to go to Islamic school later. 

When it was 5 p.m and she hadn’t returned, she waited anxiously until 6 p.m.  and decided to go to the school but found the gates locked and was told her daughter had already gone home.

She narrated that with the help of neighbours, they searched for her daughter until 10 p.m. before reporting her missing to the police and spread the word on local media. 

Despite the pain, she said she never stopped praying for her daughter’s safe return and by God’s grace her prayers were answered a year later when they were reunited. 

 

The luring technique

Zubairu Abdulmumini Dankoli, a happy father who was reunited with his child after a traumatic ordeal, revealed a chilling pattern of behaviour in their community. According to him, a woman who owns a shop in their locality would always seek to befriend the children, and each time a child was sent to her for groceries, she would give them a piece of local milk candy that costs between N10 and N15.

She narrated, “Initially, I was sceptical of her kindness, but a different thought came to me that it was a business strategy to attract more customers. Little did we know that she had an evil motive. When children started going missing daily, we began to get suspicious. As the saying goes, ‘It is 99 days for the thief and one day for the owner.’ She was caught when she was seen with two children – her husband carrying one while she was holding the other.

“When we went looking for her the next day, she had already vanished with the stolen children.” 

He said an eyewitness later confirmed seeing her with a child on a road leading to a church, so they knew they had to act. “We set a trap and decided to keep the matter quiet. Our patience paid off when she reappeared days later in a Sharon vehicle,” he added.

He said a crowd gathered and began to attack the woman but he urged them not to kill her. 

Their priority, he insisted, was to keep her alive so that she could help them trace their children. He said they called the police, adding that she attempted to escape by jumping a fence the following day but was recaptured.

He said she was in police custody for 10 days without a breakthrough, which gave him reasons for concern. 

He said he decided to meet the commissioner of police, saying he was confident he could get the truth out of her.

“I pleaded and suggested they cut off her finger, and if she still didn’t speak, they should cut off another one with a cutlass. The following day, the commissioner of police informed me that the woman overheard our conversation, and out of fear, gave details on the whereabouts of the children,” he said.

 

Govt’s intervention

Hajiya Yalwanlata, a community leader known as “Jakadiyan Jimeta,” explained how her home was full of women desperate to inform her of their missing children. She said that acting swiftly, she contacted Suleiman Alkali, the member representing Yola North in the state House of Assembly, who said the urgency of the matter prompted Governor Ahmadu Umaru Fintiri to leave his meeting to address it. 

The governor’s commitment, he added, was further demonstrated when he again left a meeting in Abuja after the children were rescued and went straight to the hospital to see them.

Addressing journalists during the handover of the children to their parents, the deputy governor of Adamawa State, Professor Kaletapwa Farauta, explained that immediately they received an intelligence report, they swung into action with the cooperation of the police, State Security Service and the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) to launch a combined manhunt to rescue them.

She reiterated that the combined effort paid off with an arrest of the trafficking ring leader, a middle-aged woman identified as Ngozi Abdulwahab.

“Our combined effort paid off with the arrest of the heinous human trafficking ring leader, a middle-aged woman of Igbo extraction identified as Ngozi Abdulwahab. This notorious trafficker has perfected the art of abducting minors aged between four and nine years from various communities in Adamawa State to the southeastern region of Nigeria,” he said.

The deputy governor revealed that the victims were sold at prices ranging from N800,000 to N1.7 million per child.

She said Ngozi operated a small provision shop at Jambutu ward, Yola North Local Government Area, where she used snacks and gifts to lure unsuspecting children.

She noted that the state government had already put in place an aggressive measure to dismantle the network and prosecute perpetrators of the heinous act.