PRAY, what should be the next step after police have successfully recovered your stolen son and confirmed with sundry evidence, including a DNA test, that you are indeed the parents?
The above is the question on the lips of Pastor Henry Okiemute Osah and Mrs. Florence Osah, parents of four-year-old Joel Eroghene Osah.
They are calling on Governors Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta State and Willie Obiano of Anambra State, civil society organisations and other well-meaning Nigerians to intervene and help them recover their son from the police in Anambra State.
According to the father, Pastor Osah, his little boy, then a little over two years old, was kidnapped in Emede community, Isoko South Local Government Area of Delta State on July 19, 2019.
Naturally, it was a traumatic experience for him and the mother, as they search everywhere without success. Eventually, he was spotted on September 2, 2020, in company of 11 other children recovered by the police in Gombe State in an orphanage in Anambra State.
But, rather than that news bringing total joy to the troubled parents, it has opened another round of stress, as the police have refused to release their boy to them despite a court intervention, preferring to keep him in an orphanage, Infant Jesus community Children’s Home, Onitsha.
The Osah’s are however of the opinion that the condition in the orphanage is not good enough – especially for a boy whose parents have been located.
“As parents, seeing our beloved son in that circumstances has continued to traumatise us, but the Commissioner of Police is unwilling, same for the Deputy Commissioner of Police in charge of investigation, Yakubu, who has continued to deny us access and custody of the boy.”
To say the least, Pastor Osah says he and his wife are not happy at the way the case is being handled, as it has literally taken away their peace of mind.
“We have spent all on this case. Our pains are apparent, as much as the frustration. The couple added that the police even chased them away on a number of occasions, putting fear in them, even when their demand is legitimate.
The couple narrated how they have had to travel to Anambra on a number of occasions, all in a bid to resolve the problem. They lamented the police’s refusal to obey an enrolment order issued by Hon. Justice C. O. Emifoniye of the High Court of Justice, in Oleh, Delta State on February 1, 2022 (in a case between Pastor Henry Osah and the Commissioner of Police, Anambra Police Command, and Kingsley Umeh.
Part of the judgement made available to the media read: “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.”
Counsel to the plaintiff, Barrister Blessing Amaworo, expressed disappointment police for the emotional torture they have put his clients through, for refusing to obey a simple court order and for threatening to detain his clients.
“I wonder what society has become, with the police now hindering justice. 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,” Amaworo said.
Narrating how the boy got missing, Pastor Osah said he was out on a prayer meeting one fateful morning, when the kidnapper sneaked in, taking advantage of the fact that the mother was sleeping, to steal away their child.
He said it was his wife’s aunt in Lagos, who first spotted the boy on TV on September 2, 2020, while he was being paraded alongside 11 other children recovered by the police in Anambra.
“After waiting endlessly without seeing their boy the first day, 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.
““During the Gombe State Police Commissioner’s press briefing, a certain man from Bauchi claimed that my son was his and 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.
Expressing her frustration, a visibly sad Mrs. Osah 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 recognise 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.
Unfortunately, Deputy commissioner of police in charge of investigation, Anambra State Command, Yakubu, allegedly declined to speak when contacted, while the O.C., Legal, of the Anambra State Police Command, Chris Collins Ifeanyi, also reportedly insisted that a letter be written from media houses before he could speak on the issue, insisting that it is complicated.