From Tony John, Port Harcourt
Wonders, they say, shall never end. Figure this out: The prime suspect in the kidnap of a 12-year-old girl, Favour Oluwaseyi, in Obio/Akpor Local Government Area of Rivers State on August 7, 2024, has been traced by police operatives to a correctional facility in Enugu, Enugu State.
The suspect, simply identified as Chiboy, is an inmate at the facility as the phone number used in calling the mother of the victim and an account number used in receiving ransom of N100,000 was traced to him.
Explaining how his daughter fell into the hands of kidnappers, the father, Mr. Ogunsinasi Oluwaseyi, 44, said his daughter was lured out of his house in broad daylight by a neighbour on August 7, 2024.
He alleged that a female neighbour led his innocent daughter to awaiting strange man, who upon laying hand on his daughter, immediately took her away in a tricycle, popularly as Keke.
The distraught father of four, is now begging well meaning Nigerians to come to his aid to secure the release of his abducted daughter, who remains in captivity for eight months.
Narrating the incidents that preceded his daughter’s abduction, he said: “On the 7th of August, 2024, I was at my place of work when my wife called me and said my daughter was missing. I was shocked because that was the least thing I expected.
“My wife told me that she was watching TV in the living room with the children, alongside a friend of my kidnapped daughter and my wife went to the toilet to ease herself in our bedroom. Before my wife could finish from the toilet to return to the sitting room, my daughter and her friend were nowhere to be found.
“My wife checked at the next apartment within the compound, but the two girls were nowhere to be found. My wife also checked outside but couldn’t find either of them and she decided to raise the alarm.
“One hour later, my kidnapped daughter’s friend was seen running back. So, my wife asked her, where is your friend, Favour that both of you were watching TV in the sitting room? She said Favour followed a strange man, that both of them followed the man and as the man was going Favour followed him and she was behind asking Favour, do you know this man you are following but she said nothing.
“That day, we searched all round but couldn’t find her. I even called one of my brothers to help me search, but could not find my Favour anywhere.”
Ogunsinasi explained that the kidnappers after a week called his wife on phone and demanded a ransom of N200,000 but N100,000 was paid following much pleadings. He added that the kidnappers despite receiving the ransom and acknowledging receipt, refused to release the little girl.
He further said: “On the 9th day of August, a number called my wife and the caller asked my wife to come and collect my daughter at Eleme junction (in Port Harcourt ). On her way, the person called again and asked how much she was coming with. My wife said, ‘you didn’t ask me to bring money. You only said I should come and collect my daughter’.
“The kidnapper said she should bring N200,000, that they would share the money among themselves. My wife pleaded and they agreed to accept N100,000.
“My wife asked how she should pay the ransom, whether it would be with cash or transfer? And he (the caller) said we should transfer to an account number he later sent.
“We, thereafter, did the payment. Having made the payment, after they confirmed the payment, they requested another N100,000.”
The distraught father stated that after the kidnapers reneged on their promise to release the little girl unconditionally after their demand was met, he decided to report the matter to the Mini-Okoro Police Division, Port Harcourt.
“I went and reported the matter at the Anti-Kidnapping Unit at Mini-Okoro. The police later came to our house and invited the girl that lured my daughter out to the station.
“Upon getting to the station, they interrogated the girl and because she is a minor, she was released by the police.
“Little did I know that the father of my daughter’s friend was going behind my back to extract information from the police. It was after I discovered that, I wrote a letter to the Commissioner of police.
“The police then tracked the number that called my wife and demanded ransom and the number showed Enugu Prison.”
Ogunsinasi further disclosed that the kidnapper’s phone number and account used in receiving the paid ransom was traced to a correctional facility in Enugu, Enugu State.
“The number that was attached to the bank account that received the ransom, after it was tracked, it equally showed Enugu prison, which means that somebody in Enugu is the one controlling the outside.
“So, when we got to the prison, the suspect’s picture was given to one of the wardens. They used the picture to fish him out.
“When I saw him, I said this one is not a prisoner because even the wristwatch he was wearing, myself that is even free don’t wear that kind of wristwatch.
“Even when he was brought to the controller’s office, we never knew that he was the person until the wardens told us that this is the person we were looking for.”
“The police interrogated him. He was initially cooperating with the police during the interrogation. He denied having access to a phone, not until the police reminded him of the video call he did with his wife right inside the prison. That was when he agreed that he had his own personal phone.
“The police asked him to bring the phone and assigned a warder to follow him. By the time he and the warder returned, it was like the warder had taught him what to say. That was when he suddenly became aggressive and started shouting at the police. He even told the police that he cannot sign the statement he had given before he left with the warder and a senior prison official supported him that we cannot force him to sign and they asked us to leave the premises.”
Expressing their displeasure over the ugly development, the Rivers Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) called on the Inspector General of Police and the Controller-General of Nigeria Correctional Service to unmask and arrest suspect who has been operating and masterminding abductions from the Enugu correctional facility.
Speaking during a press briefing in Port Harcourt recently, chairman of Rivers Civil Society Organisations, Comrade Enefaa Georgewill, said it was unfortunate that criminals now use correctional centres as hideouts to perpetrate crime and criminality in the society.
The civil rights defenders, however, expressed disappointment that efforts made by operatives of the police to arrest the suspect after unraveling his identity, were resisted by officials of the correctional facility.
He said: “The story of Oluwaseyi is one story too many in our society and it goes to show the complicity of our security agents, especially the police and wardens in correctional facilities, otherwise called prisons, in the continuous atrocious crimes going on in Rivers State and across the country.
“It is barbaric and shameful that eight months after a kidnap incident, we are still talking about this matter despite the fact that we have already got the primary suspect who has been traced to Enugu prison.
“What again are the police waiting for? Except men of the police and wardens of the correctional facility are complicit in this matter, otherwise, this matter is straightforward.
“We are saying that the Controller-General of Corrections should immediately ask his men in Enugu prison to provide the criminal who kidnapped Oluwaseyi. We are equally calling on the Inspector -General of Police (IGP) to ask his men to do the needful by making sure that all those who are involved, especially the young girl that lured the victim out of the house that have been caught on camera, are produced.”
The RIVCSOs further called on the police to invite the friend of the kidnap victim who was seen through a CCTV camera escorting the victim to meet the kidnapper on that fateful day.
Georgewill further said: “We want the Inspector -General of Police to ask his men to produce the girl, because from the information available to us, the girl is nowhere to be found. The girl and her parents have parked out of the house and the police are saying that they don’t know their whereabouts.
“Till date, the young lady who lured Oluwaseyi out of the house is nowhere to be found. We are saying the Inspector General of Police should make sure that the police in Rivers State provide that young lady.
“We are equally saying that police should do everything humanly to ensure that all those who are found culpable in this matter, especially the wife of the kidnapper in prison whose phone number has been gotten, should equally be brought back for security check. Anything outside this, we will be left with no other choice than to escalate this matter beyond this press briefing.”
Meanwhile, a police officer from Rivers State Command, who did not want his name in print, said further investigation on the cause should be the responsibility of the Enugu State Police Command because the matter is now under their jurisdiction.