By Bianca Iboma-Emefu
Pastor Henry Okiemute Osah and Mrs. Florence Osah, the parents of four-year-old Joel, who was kidnapped when he was two years and few months old in Emede community, Isoko South Local Government Area of Delta State, have called Governors Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta State and Willie Obiano of Anambra State, civil society organisations and well-meaning Nigerians to help them recover their beloved son from the police in Anambra State.
The trauma the man of God and his wife are facing is better imagined than experienced, as they have been travelling to Anambra State regularly to see if the issue could be resolved. Despite their efforts, the police have been unwilling to release the child, and the condition of the child is said to be pathetic. He is kept at Infant Jesus Community Children’s Home in Onitsha.
“As parents, seeing our beloved son in those circumstances has traumatized us,” they said, adding that the police authorities have denied them access to and custody of their rescued son.
“We have spent all on this case. Our pains are apparent as much as the frustration. So much of our resources have gone into the process of seeking justice and the recovery of our kidnapped child,” they said.
The couple added that the police chased them away and threatened to detain them on several occasions, putting fear into them.
To recover their son, the couple had no choice but to seek redress in court. The case was brought before the High Court of Justice, in Oleh, Delta State, under the Honourable Justice C.O. Emifoniye, where an enrollment order was issued on February 1, 2022, in the case between Pastor Henry Osah and the Commissioner of Police, Anambra Police Command, and Kingsley Umeh, which said the claimant should have custody of the boy, but the police shunned the order.
The document, made available to the media, reads: “Having heard claimant’s counsel and no opposition from the defendants, who were duly served with the provision of the 2003 Child Rights Act, particularly sections 1, 2, 3 and 8, it the granted the claimant custody pending the outcome of the suit.
“The defendants are hereby ordered to release Master Joel Eroghene Henry Osah for the proper and general well-being of the boy. The case has been adjourned till March 3, 2022.
In addition to this, counsel to the plaintiff, Barrister Blessing Amaworo, said it was sad to see the police threatening to detain his client and the emotional torture from the police. The police refused to obey court order, pending the outcome.
Amaworo said that the police do not have a filed record, yet they have been extremely cruel in the treatment given to his client. He alleged that the police threatened his client, “stating that he could not get the boy through legal means. I wonder what the society has turned into, where the police institution would be hindering judicial process.”
“If a case is complicated, why not follow due process and obey constituted authority? The police, as an institution, should obey court order. The condition of the child should be traumatic to any parent,” the lawyer said.
The victim, four-year-old Joel Eroghene Osah, was kidnapped in 2019 from Emede community, a village in Isoko. Luckily, he was found on September 2, 2020, among 12 children recovered by the police in Gombe State Command from an orphanage in Anambra State; but the police have refused to release the child despite the evidence of parentage given to them.
Expectedly, the parents jumped for joy upon receiving the news that their son was alive and safe in the hands of the police. But they were unaware that their joy would be stalled for 18 months and still counting.
As gathered, the Osahs have been devastated since the incident. The cleric, who hails from Emevor, Isoko North LGA, has, therefore, appealed to Nigerians to help him recover his son from the police.
Osah narrated his ordeal and frustrations of trying to recover his son. He said Joel was only two years and seven months old when he was abducted on July 19, 2019, in Emede, where they lived. The boy was taken to Idemili in Anambra State, where he was kept at Umaukpokpo Orphanage. His child was seen among 12 children that were recovered in Anambra from a certain woman, Nkechi, accused of trafficking in persons.
The cleric explained that they have passed through hell on earth since the kidnap and discovery of the child’s location: “I left my son and his two older siblings in the house that morning. They were already awake, but my pregnant wife was still sleeping. Then, she was eight months pregnant.
“I was invited for a prayer meeting that fateful morning. Capitalising on my absence, someone sneaked into my apartment without her knowledge and whisked our child away. By the time she woke up and realized and that her son was not with his siblings, she called to inform me about it. I ran quickly to the house and we started searching the surroundings for our child, but he was nowhere to be found.
“After we could not find him, I reported the case to the community leaders in Emede and later went to the police station at Oleh to make a report.
“While the case was under investigation, after a year and three months, my wife’s aunt who lived in Lagos called me on September 2, 2020, that she just watched a report on television where 12 kidnapped children have been recovered in Anambra.
“She took pictures of the children displayed and forwarded the pictures to us. We were able to identify our son among the children. Immediately, we travelled to Anambra.
“On arriving the place, called 33 Stations, we saw other parents who came to also verify if their children were among those shown on television.
“At the station, the DPO, Power Sule, called my wife and I, and we were the first people he attended to. They took pictures of us and asked us to wait. We waited at the police station till about 11pm before we were informed that the children would not be brought that night, that we should wait till the second morning.
“The next day, when my child was brought along others, he almost jumped out of the vehicle trying get to us but was stopped by the police as the door was quickly jammed.
“CSP Sule informed me later that they were taking the children to Gombe, that the case was cracked by the police in Gombe State. I was advised to go back and get police extract at the station where I reported the incident. We went back to get the extract and other necessary documents as evidence to show the police in Gombe.
“He showed the picture of my son to me from his Android phone and told me to go back to Delta, which we did.
“In Gombe, the state commissioner of police held a press briefing, my wife and I were there. To our surprise, a certain man from Bauchi claimed that my son was his and he wanted to take him away, but my son began to scream and cry in protest. The police bundled him into their van and zoomed away.
“The O.C, Legal, said I had to do a DNA test that I should pay N150,000 and police later collected N45,000 from me. I have the receipt and bank transaction. I was told to come after 45 days for the result.
“Later, it was discovered that the man claiming my child bought him from Nkechi, the woman who kept them at the orphanage in Anambra. After interrogation, Nkechi revealed that none of the children came from the North. So, the children were transferred back to Akwa, Anambra State,” he said.
Osah lamented that the police have spent over six months running a DNA test.
“Nkechi has brought another couple claiming my child is from the East. The last time I saw my son was in Akwa, at an orphanage, Jesus Care. He had some bruises on his body, my son is too small to be in this state,” he complained.
On her part, Mrs. Osah expressed sadness, stating that it was impossible for her to forget the labour on her child. She called on the Ministry of Women Affairs in Delta and Anambra states to come to her aid.
“How can a child that I carried for nine months and lived with me for two years and seven months not recognize me and have a connection?
“All I want is my child who was kidnapped in Emede. How do I live with this pain? We have spent so much and are still spending, yet the police have refused to give us our son,” the distraught mother said.
When contacted, the police public relations officer in Anambra State, Tochukwu Ikenga, said he was not aware of the matter, adding that he would investigate and get back to the reporter.
Deputy commissioner of police in charge of investigation, Anambra State Command, Yakubu, declined to speak when contacted.
The O.C., Legal, of the Anambra State Police Command, Chris Collins Ifeanyi, when asked why they refused to grant the enrollment order issued by the court, said the reporter should write a letter to him before he would speak on the issue, saying it was complicated. He also demanded an official letter from the reporter’s office.
Several attempts, thereafter, to get information from other police sources proved abortive.