Tag: Kidnapper

It was supposed to be a prayer session and vigil at the Ibadan based church. However, an unusual drama interrupted the serene prayerful atmosphere. Tunde Busari reports

Florence Adeyemi’s cry of “My baby… where is my baby?” in the middle of the intense night prayer session in a church in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, did not only distract the congregation at the vigil, it abruptly terminated the session with all attention turning to the panic-stricken woman.
The fact that such a spectacle was a rarity in the church, With God Mission Church, located at Sanyo axis of the ancient city made the prayer warriors to sacrifice their devotion to join the distressed woman in the search for her baby. At this time Adeyemi was inconsolable.
She was drenched in tears within minutes. Fear gripped everyone including the leadership of the church who were scared of the implication of the incident on the image of their fast-growing church.
“That night I sympathised with the church officials. I watched them lamenting while running around looking for the possible places within the church premises where they thought the child could be. The situation can better be imagined. I could not join the search team because I had health challenges which actually took me to the church that night. But I also felt the heat as a mother,” an eye witness who craved for anonymity said.
Normalcy, however, returned when from one of the rooms in the premises came a shouting match between one of the church officials and an unidentified person. This encounter spontaneously diverted the attention of the people to his direction.
The shouting match
The official, shouting at the top of his voice, was attempting to drag out a woman from the room but the woman was resistant having realised what was awaiting her outside the room. The official opted for unusual solution as he broke the door to access the room where he was face-to- face with Adeoye Kemi holding a baby.
Kemi’s countenance had already betrayed whatever defence she might want to put up. By the time the mother of the baby arrived the spot it became more apparent that Kemi attended the night vigil for a different purpose.
“The mother rushed at the baby but she was prevented by other members of the church to allow the officials interrogate the suspect. The tension had reduced but the noise was too much. The officials of the church saved the situation as the people had started to throw objects at her calling her devil and all sorts of names. The suspect was looking dejected as if she was on drug. She did not look like somebody who came to the church to pray that night,” the source added.
If the mother had been allowed to handle the suspect the situation could have degenerated and compounded the problem. The mother could have attempted to take a pound of flesh and in the process overreacted.
Joys of motherhood
“My mood was too bad that day. I felt like hitting her. I could have done this if not for the people that prevented me to move closer to her. Upon all the noise over her, she did not look as if she realised what she did was a crime. I give glory to God for not allowing her to take my baby out of the premises before we caught her,” the elated mother said thankfully.
In the end, the church contacted the police at Sanyo Divisional Police Headquarters from where a team effected the, arrest of Kemi and detained her briefly after which she was transferred to the State Criminal Investigation Department (SCID), Iyaganku, Ibadan.
The Nation gathered that the 28-year-old suspect had arrived at the church early like others but hid within the premises. It was from where she hid that she patiently monitored the unsuspecting mother of the baby.
She was busy preparing the baby for sleep to allow her uninterrupted prayer session with the congregation. When the baby had slept off and the mother left the spot, Kemi struck! She decided to carry out her devious plan. Nobody could explain how she tiptoed to the spot and carried the sleeping baby girl. She, however, offered an insight into the act.
“I saw the baby sleeping and walked up to her and carried her. I tied her at my back and left the place. I then saw a room where I was when they saw me with the baby,” she said.
Although Kemi alleged that she was sent to steal the baby by a woman she called Funmilayo Akande, further investigation could not establish the substance of the allegation. Akande’s claim revealed a link between her and Kemi but the police say they have no evidence of the duo’s recent contact. The woman was consequently allowed to go.
“It is not proper to hold an innocent for offence she did not commit. The parlance is that it is better a policeman allow 100 criminals to escape than punishing one innocent person. Before we went after the woman, we had gathered some information about her from her area. This helped us to quickly resolve the matter,” a police source said.
The general consensus based on the character trait of the suspect throughout her detention period suggests a mentally unstable woman. During cross-examination with her alleged sponsor, it was learnt, she left no one in doubt of her inconsistency, thereby vindicating the woman when she was expected to reveal more information that could have nailed her as a kidnap kingpin.
A police source disclosed that a member of the suspect’s family had cleared air on the suspicion of her health challenge. She was said to have once been a patient at the University College Hospital (UCH) Ibadan after the family noticed a remarkable change in her behaviour.
She is blessed with a kid but not married. According to the source, the suspect was also reputed for her diligence, the attribute that took her to Emmanuel Alayande College of Education, Oyo and later University of Ado-Ekiti where she studied Social Studies.
“It is glaring that she is well educated despite her funny behaviour. We first thought she was trying to be smart. But whatever the case may be she would be charged to court”, the source said.
Prompt investigation
True to this promise, the suspect had since been arraigned at the Magistrate Court 12 in Ibadan on September 17. She was charged for child stealing but granted bail. The Acting Police Public Relations Officer of Oyo State Police Command, Daniel Oboyi, a Deputy Superintendent of Police, confirmed this and passed a judgement that the police acted well and in accordance to the Inspector-General, Mohammed Abubakar’s speedy investigation directive.
“Elongating the investigation of this matter in particular will mean a contravention of the IG’s directive. And my CP has warned that whoever is found wasting too much time on a case that requires less time to investigate will face sanction,” Eboyo said.
There are fears that child theft has sneaked into the crime list in Ibadan in particular with the arrest of yet another woman a few weeks ago. The suspect, Sherifat Hassan, was arrested at Iyana Church, while allegedly attempting to abduct two little boys.
It was learnt that she lured the kids with biscuits from a play ground where she found them. Luck, however, ran out on her when a relation of the kid ran into her and raised a poser she could not answer.
“The relation quickly raised alarm which attracted the people of the neighbourhood to the scene. That was when they took the suspect to the Monatan Division,” a source said.
The suspect would later deny the theft allegation with a claim that she had gone to the area in search of a church where she was to seek a solution to a certain problem she had battled with in the past few years. She said somebody introduced the church to her as the right place she could get the problem solved after her past unsuccessful effort at different places.
“So when I was told about this church I said to myself that it could be the place. That is what brought me to the place. I was resting, at the spot where the people came to me, after I have searched for the church for some time without success. So, I could not understand why they said I wanted to steal the kids when I am praying to God to give me my own too,” she said in emotion-laden voice.
It was further learnt that the suspect, who also claimed to be a trained fashion designer, had a failed marriage. The factor which, a source argued, could be the reason she was searching for a church. The suspect also revealed she was into a fresh relationship and that given the reason she could not have done anything that could jeopardise her second attempt in marriage.
She is already under prosecution having appeared before a magistrate at the Magistrate Court 12 at Iyaganku, Ibadan. Attempt to commit felony was slammed on her while the case has been adjourned to October 17.
In a similar development, the duo of Martina Onwelikwe and Kingsley Linus are currently undergoing interrogation at the Abuja office of the National Agency for Prohibition of Traffic in Persons and other related Matters (NAPTIP).
The suspects were detained following a discovery connecting them with a trafficking syndicate with network in major cities in Nigeria. They were arrested at the point of selling two babies for N400, 000 each.
According to the Assistant Director of Press and Public Relations of the agency, Orakwe Arinze, the suspects’ modus operandi revolves round abduction and snatching of babies from their mothers, after which they transfer them to their agents, who are specialists in marketing the babies.
NAPTIP officials are already on the trail of the agents while assuring that the suspects would be transferred to the police for further investigation and prosecution.