Crime
A WOMAN, whose identity could not be established as at press time, has disappeared with three children of her neighbours four days after moving into a rented apartment in Mowe area of Ogun State.
The woman was said to have taken the children out on Sunday under the pretext of buying them biscuits.
The woman was just four days old in the apartment.
The abducted children have been identified as John Segun, 5; Fikayomi Bankole, 3; and Darasimi Ilesanmi, two-months-old.
They are all of different parents.
One of the parents of the children, Idowu Bankole, confirmed the development.
Bankole confirmed seeing the woman with his son, Fikayomi.
He said: “When I was returning from church that fateful day, I saw the woman with my son.
“I never suspected her. My wife left church before me, with our two children.
“I couldn’t go with her. I was part of the elders in the church and we had a meeting.
“When I returned, I met my first child with her mother sleeping. My wife’s mother told me that our new neighbour took Fikayo out to buy biscuit for him and other children.
“When she told me our neighbour took my son and two other children out, I relaxed. I went to the third street to fix a water tap.
I returned around 4pm and my wife told me that the woman was yet to return with the children. I encouraged my wife to exercise patience. After waiting for about two hours, another victim’s grandmother came out and started searching for her grandchild.
“We rushed to Mowe Police Station and reported the incidence.
“Our landlord and his son who let out the house to the woman were arrested, but released three days after. We are appealing to the Ogun State Commissioner of Police and Governor Ibikunle Amosun to rescue our children. “We have not been able to sleep since the incidence.”
Another affected father, Ebenezer Ilesanmi, said: “My wife was with my son in the compound washing clothes when our new neighbour approached her. The woman told my wife to bring our baby to assist her to hold, so that she could concentrate on the washing. She took the baby and promised to return soon. After washing, my wife became worried because the woman was not yet back.
“Moreover, it was time for the baby to breastfeed. My wife later went to check the two other kids’ mothers to know if their own children had returned. Unfortunately, it was the same thing. It was at that point that my wife called to tell me what was going on. Immediately, I left what I was doing and rushed home.
“I saw a crowd in front of our compound. Everyone was searching for the children.
“Since then till date, we have not seen them. Since then, my wife had been weeping, asking for the whereabouts of her son.
“I’m appealing to the police to rescue the kids. My son is just an infant. I don’t know how they will breastfeed him.
“He is our first child. I don’t know where or whom to run to. When we broke into the suspect’s apartment in the presence of the policemen, there was only curtain at the door and window.”
The landlord, Tajudeen Leshi, said he did not collect house rent from the suspect.
Leshi said the woman paid to his son.
He said: “I was not around when the woman and her husband came to inspect the apartment.
“After they agreed to move in, they gave my son N30,000 instead of N50,000 for a year.
“Initially, I refused to collect the money, but my son persuaded me on phone to collect it from them.
They promised to balance me N20,000. When I returned, I told my son to call the woman to get her details.
When she approached me, she said they were from Calabar.
“I spoke the language to her, but she didn’t understand it. She claimed that she was born in Lagos State and didn’t understand her language. The only mistake I made was that because they were rushing to move in, I didn’t get their details. It was when she abducted the kids it occurred to me that I had made a grave mistake.
“I also blamed the kids’ parents. How can they hand their children to someone they had just known for only four days.” – News Rangers
Aug 15,2017 @ 18:30 GMT
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