Denials as parents recount tales of missing children in Gwagwa

Four months after Musa Usman went to his friend’s house to play, he is yet to be seen by his parents and neighbours. His mother, Mariam Usman, said the family is in distress after fruitless searches at uncompleted buildings and black spots for over one week in Gwagwa, Karmo and Jiwa. She said the family […]

Four months after Musa Usman went to his friend’s house to play, he is yet to be seen by his parents and neighbours.

His mother, Mariam Usman, said the family is in distress after fruitless searches at uncompleted buildings and black spots for over one week in Gwagwa, Karmo and Jiwa. She said the family had gone spiritual and that so far it had spent over N100,000 on prayers for the discovery and safe return of the boy.

“From here to chief house, na him dey carry my son. He follow one of his friends to play and I say make dey call am make I bath am make he go mosque for Friday, dem say dey no see am,” she said in Pidgin English.

Mariam is one of several families whose children have gone missing in Gwagwa, a community in Abuja.

The mother, with tears flowing down her cheeks, said cases of missing children have led to unrest in the community with a man lynched at Unguwar Keriya because some people suspected he was attempting to abduct a child.

The rate of missing children in the sprawling community in Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC) populated by low income earners, artisans and farmers, has been alarming. As a result concerned residents had plan a protest to the District Head of Jiwa, Alhaji Idris Musa, and AMAC council boss, Abdullahi Adamu Candido. While the protest is yet to be carried out the community head said he was not aware of missing children in the community.

A courtier directed by the community head to respond to enquiries, Shuaibu Bawa, said none of the cases of the missing children was reported at the palace. He said he only heard stories of missing children in the community and when he visited the police station to ascertain the authenticity, there was no complaint filed by anybody as regards missing children there either.

The denial enraged Mariam Usman who said her husband and several other families reported the matter severally to the community head and at the police station.

Mariam said they were at the police station the first day their child went missing but were told to return the next day which they did only to be told that they would be contacted later.

“Na only one house dey Gwagwa? That means dey no get us for mind,” she said, adding that they have not heard from the police since then and did not contact officers at the station anymore since they failed to attend to them.

Angela Awah whose nephew went missing last Friday, is disturbed  at the rate of missing children in the community.

She said her nephew, Michael, was ill and was around their house when he went missing.

She said the mother, a farmer, had returned earlier from the farm to attend to the sick boy at about 12 noon.

“The boy was outside and she called on him to come for his drugs and he was not found,” she said, adding that it was strange to her.

The mother was not at home to talk to Aso Chronicle as she had gone to see a cleric in the city to pray for the safe return of her only son.

Michael’s eight-year-old sister, said her father was a mason and mother a farmer, adding that she is now left with two other sisters.

Adamu Muhammadu, another child, was in the custody of his grandmother when he went to pray and never returned.

Adamu, also about three years old, is being brought up by his grandmother after his mother died when he was still a toddler. His grandmother, Maimuna Adamu, said she was saddened by the fact that she did not know the boy’s whereabouts.’

She said the boy has not been found since 22nd of August, a day after the Eid el-Fitr celebrations. She said she reported the matter at the police station, to community head and vigilante group but with no positive results yet.

She    said     the      boy     was sleeping and woke up when prayers were called at about 4pm. “He performed ablution and went to the mosque and that was the last time I saw him,” she said through an interpreter.

A resident, Chineme Odoh, described the missing boy as calm and quiet, adding that he was not the first child to have gone missing in the community.

“We once experienced something like this but not up to this number. We suffered cases of missing children once in a while. People are saying that up to seven kids have been kidnapped but those that say their children are missing are up to four. I suspect it is because of the election period, parents should take good care of their children,” he said.

While Maimuna Adamu believed that her grandson must have been abducted before he got to the mosque close to their house, Hauwa Lawan Haida, said her stepson was playing at their doorpost when he was abducted, seven days after Adamu Muhammadu went missing.

“We no know. Na here, (pointing to the doorpost) the boy dey play and then he was nowhere to be found,” she said, while narrating how the family’s ordeal started.

The father, Lawan Bodinga, said his son was playing near the house when he got missing, adding that he last saw him at about 4pm when he left the house.

“I was called at about 7pm that they could not find the boy,” he said adding that it was about to rain and the mother had called them in, only to discover that the boy was nowhere to be found.

“We think maybe because of the rain, somebody would see the boy and take him to the chief’s house or police station,” he said. He continued, “We are just praying now because there is nothing we can do. We have searched everywhere, soakways, wells, water sides, uncompleted buildings. We are just praying and following up events on missing children on Facebook.”

He said he had gone to Kaduna when a missing boy that bore same name with his son was found only to discover that it was another boy from Jigawa State, adding that a similar thing happened in Potiskum, Yobe State.

“We are poor and do not have enough to do advert on national television stations,” he said, stressing that the pains of a missing child was more terrible than losing a child.

Bodinga said the case was reported at the police station on August 29th. The boy’s photograph and statement from the parents were collected by the police the next day though he said they have not heard from them since the case was reported.

Mariam Usman, who took our reporter to the houses of the victims, said most of the missing children were male. “Only one girl was taken on Lagos Street,” she said, adding that all the children were within the same age range – between three and four years.

The Divisional Police Officer at Gwagwa Police Station was not around for comment but the DCO II, who simply gave his name as DSP Victor, said the police would always attended to anyone that came to lodge a missing child complaint.

He insisted that most of the cases were not reported at the station. “It is possible that something had happened but they have not brought it to the station. When someone said they got here and were not given audience it is a very serious allegation. So we need to be sure that they reported a case of missing child and were not given audience.

“There is a difference between you were not given audience and the necessary things have been done but the child is yet to be found. Let them come and let us hear them out. We are here to serve them and whenever we receive such complaints the first thing we do is tell them to go and return when it is up to 24 hours.

He said on returning after 24 hours, photographs and details of the missing persons would be collected and circulated to other posts. He, however, confirmed that there was a case of missing child reported about two months ago.

“I have to be careful whatever information we give to you that was why I said it would be better if the family can come. We are doing everything possible to properly police the community, you know it is a suburb, whenever we have issues like that we normally circulate the information to head of divisions and outposts,” he said.

“I do advise the traditional rulers to always enlighten their subjects because some of these women are careless, and this is a suburb, things are happening. Some of them come to realise their child was missing seven or 10 hours after the incident happened,” he said.

However, Mariam Usman said the situation had made parents to be more vigilant. She said she now takes her remaining children to school and go back at closing hours to pick them up.

“As I am with you, I don call person that will take them from school,” she said in Pidgin.

Our reporter who waited in the community till the close of school also observed that several pupils were accompanied by adults on their way home though there were still children walking home alone.