Parents of abducted kids urge Niger govt to order search on orphanages

Parents whose children were stolen in Suleja and Tafa LGAs of Niger State have pleaded with the state government to wade in by helping them to recover the children, some of whom have been missing for more than a year. The parents specifically called on the state government to set up a special committee of […]

Parents whose children were stolen in Suleja and Tafa LGAs of Niger State have pleaded with the state government to wade in by helping them to recover the children, some of whom have been missing for more than a year.

The parents specifically called on the state government to set up a special committee of highly placed individuals that would get unhindered access into orphanages in and outside the state where they believe that a number of kidnapped children are being traded.

City & Crime reports that the two affected LGAs bordering the FCT have been witnessing child theft since 2017.

Babangida Iliya, a resident of Suleja whose son, Abdussalam, was abducted in September, 2021, said all efforts to trace the four-year-old boy had so far proved abortive.

He said the boy was abducted around their home one morning when his mother sent him to a provision shop.

He further said, “I reported the matter to the police division in Sabon-Wuse and later to the Suleja Area Command.

“I also travelled to Abuja and Minna police headquarters, in addition to visiting some orphanages.

 “There was one instance when we were prevented from accessing an orphanage in Gwagwalada in the FCT despite the presence of policemen in our entourage.’’ Another parent, Sani Salisu, whose son, Soban, was abducted in March, 2017, said the boy, now seven, was taken by a woman outside their home, according to his elder brother who was with him when the incident happened.

He said, “A neighbour later saw the woman with my son on a bike, and when the neighbour mentioned his name, she simply pulled down her hijab over him and asked the bike man to zoom off.

‘’I travelled to various places with policemen, including Anambra State, in the cause of tracing the child, but without success.’’

Also speaking, Shuaibu Abdussalam, a resident of the same community, said his younger brother, Almustafa Nura, was abducted two years ago when he was three years old, and that in the course of tracing him he travelled to various places without success.

The parents said there were dozens of similar cases within the two LGAs.

It would be recalled that the police from the state command recently found some kidnapped children from Suleja and Tafa in an orphanage in Lugbe, Abuja.

The police said another child was found with an Ushafa-based pastor in the FCT.