Man Kidnaps Neighbour's 3-Year-Old Daughter And Then Sold Her For ₦20,000
Since December 22, Godwin Onyeisi has not known peace following the
mysterious disappearance of his three-year-old daughter, Success, from
home. The minor was allegedly
abducted by a neighbour, Emmanuel
Okpara, who joined the father to look for the girl, until he was fingered by
people who saw him with the child about the time she reportedly went missing. Success’
disappearance bungled the family’s plan to travel home for the Yuletide and it
is threatening the education of her other siblings. Her father, a commercial
motorcyclist said he has spent all his savings – about N60,000 – on police
investigation and other logistics.
Okpara has been
arrested and transferred to the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS), Ikeja, where
he allegedly confessed that he sold the minor for N20,000. But Onyeisi said
they do not know who the buyer is or where he lives. Onyeisi told The
Nation that he initially did not believe that Okpara, whom he has treated
like a brother over the years could kidnap his daughter.
“The worst part is
that he (Okpara) followed me to all the places I went to in search of my
daughter, with the same clothe he wore when he kidnapped her. “He followed me on
my motorcycle to all the palaces of the Baales, all the streets and all the
police stations we visited, until people who saw him with her about the time
she went missing, told us and the police that he was the kidnapper,” Onyeisi
said.
He said he was at
work when his wife called him on phone that she could not find their daughter. His wife, he said,
had left the girl, who was watching cartoon at home, to quickly buy some of the
things they need to travel to Delta State for the Yuletide.
“My older children
went to fetch water at the well in a nearby compound. They went with other
children in our yard. So, because we were planning to travel, my wife left
Success who was watching cartoon in the room and rushed to the market. “She was the one
who called me that they have been looking for Success and have not seen
her. "I didn’t
really take her seriously because I did not think anyone will want to harm me
or my family.
“When I came back
and they have not seen her yet, I started going round the neighbourhood asking
questions. “As we were going
round to ask people, the Baales were sending messages through town criers that
anyone that saw her should come forward with the information. “For two days, we
went round in search of my daughter and my neighbour was with me all through
the period. He was wearing the same red T-shirt that people saw him with while
he took my daughter away. But he was following me as if he did not know
anything about her disappearance.
“From December 23,
we started hearing information that he was seen with my daughter, but I did not
believe it because Success is very close to him. I have been very good to his
family; I even connected my generator to his house to give them light. “Whenever my daughter
is given food, she will take it to eat with him. Once we bath her, she
will take her clothe to him to wear for her. She usually slept in their house,
so I did not want to believe that he was behind her disappearance.
“But three women
later came to our house, among the three was a woman he bought bottled water
from while he was with my daughter. So, the woman now said he saw him with my
daughter and that after drinking from the water, he gave my daughter to drink
and they left. “I still did not
believe what they were saying. I told them to stop lying against him until my
wife got angry and went and reported to the police that I was also a suspect.
That was how I was arrested with him on December 25 and we slept at the
station.
“He was still
denying it, until the women and all those who saw him with my daughter came to
the police station and identified him. “They even
described the clothe he was wearing, which happened to be the same clothe he
wore while he was following me about. That was how the police detained him.
“After some days,
he confessed that he was the one who took her and that he sold her for N20,000
through somebody else to a man who lives in Okota. “He said he cannot
remember the man and the middle man who took the baby to the buyer usually
stayed at a woman’s house here in Coconut. “I have been going
from church to church and they keep telling me that my daughter is alive.
“Okpara should let
me know if he has killed my daughter. If my baby is still alive, he should say
where she is. How can a man like that kidnap a little girl and since then he
doesn’t want to say where she is? Police need to put pressure on him to say where
my baby is.
“I have spent all
my savings on the investigation of this matter. I have been giving the police
money so that the case is not slowed down. Now I don’t even have money to pay
for the school fees of my other children,” he said.
The Police have
launched a manhunt for the buyer and the prophet he allegedly gave the child
to. The woman in whose
house the middleman usually slept was nabbed but she was released because she
knew nothing about the case.
The middleman gave
the child to a chief, who handed her over to his prophet for sacrifice. All the locations
mentioned by Okpara have been visited by the police but they were deserted
including two companies at Lekki said to be owned by the yet-to-be identified
chief.
The Nation learnt
that efforts to nab the suspects have been thwarted by their informants, who
have been placed under watch.
