By Izunna Okafor, Awka
It was a dramatic scene in Awka, the capital city of Anambra State, on Monday, June 10, as a suspected child trafficker was apprehended a few days after allegedly conniving with a man to steal a one-year-old baby from her mother.
Aged 24, the suspect, identified as Princess Willie, from Akwa Ibom State was said to have connived with her male accomplice, simply identified as Onyeka, who reportedly charmed and lured a 20-year-old mother from Enugu State down to Anambra, where they robbed her of her new baby on Thursday, June 6.
However, a few days after an intensive search, the suspected trafficker was sighted and recognized by a Hotel Manager, Mr. Kingsley Okeke, who is aware of the case, who then apprehended her and raised an alarm, before she was crowded.
Narrating how it all happened, a good-spirited individual, simply identified as Chukwunonso, who assisted the mother of the missing child, said he saw her on Friday, June 7, when she was crying along the road after the suspects had stolen her child from her, and then approached her to find out what the problem was, only to find out that her child was stolen.
According to him, because the perpetrators charmed the lady before carrying out the act, she was only able to recall that a man brought her (together with her baby) from Enugu State, down to Awka, and took her to a hotel, where they were later joined by another lady (Princess), both of whom later dispossessed her of her child along the road on their way out of the hotel, as they told her to alight from a tricycle that carried them, that they had reached where they were going, only for them to enter another tricycle with her child and zoom off, leaving her behind.
Mr. Chukwunonso recounted how they launched into search and began massive inquiries around the capital city with the lady, till they eventually discovered the particular hotel where she previously stayed with the perpetrators.
His words (in Igbo): “Immediately the lady saw the hotel’s name (Bejoy Hotel), she recognized it, and we went in there. Also, immediately the security men in the hotel, and the Hotel Manager (this man here) saw her, and they also recognized her.
“And so, I told them what happened, that the lady said she was looking for her child, and that this hotel was the place she earlier stayed with the people who stole the child.
“And, immediately we said that both the Manager and the security men were all surprised and said that they foresaw such a thing coming and even made some attempts and efforts to prevent it, only for it to eventually happen.”
Taking over the narration, the Hotel Manager, Mr. Okeke, explained that a man and a lady had come to the hotel with the little child earlier, after which another lady (the now apprehended suspect — Princess) later came and also joined them. He, however, said that shortly after Princess arrived, the man and the mother of the child left the hotel, leaving only Princess and the little child behind in the hotel.
According to him, after a short while also, Princess similarly wanted to go out of the hotel with the child, claiming that she was a sister to the mother and that she wanted to take the baby to her where they went. He said the move was, however, resisted by him (the Manager) and the security men working in the hotel, as they declined to let her go with the baby, and insisted that she should wait for the mother of the baby who came to the Hotel with the child to return and also carry her child out of the hotel by herself.
Continuing, he said the suspect (Princess) kept insisting and telling them that the child was her sister’s baby and that she wanted to take her to where they were.
His words: “I then told her to contact the mother of the child for her to come back and authorize the baby’s release. As that was going on, I was a little busy with something else, and the lady took the chance to text her accomplice (the man who left with the mother of the child), telling him to inform the baby’s mother about the names she had assigned to her and her baby (in case we asked her). She also told them to support her claim of being a sister to the child’s mother.
“We didn’t even know about this and when she did it. Even when the people came back, the man first started quarreling with us for embarrassing his wife’s sister. So, after everything, we asked them some necessary questions and their answers corresponded with the ones this lady earlier gave us; and this made us free them and let them go with the baby.
“It was just a day after they left the hotel that this man here (referring to Chukwunonso) came back to the hotel with the lady, informing us that she had been robbed of her child.
“…After everything, we started making efforts to get the government and the security agencies involved in the matter. We also reported the matter and took the girl to the Commissioner for Women Affairs, who swung into action immediately.
“And the lady has been crying since that day till today over her missing child. So, today, as I was going to work this morning, I now saw this lady (referring to Princess) and immediately recognized her as one of the people involved in the case of the missing child. And that was how I accosted her and began to question her, till these people now gathered.”
The apprehension of the suspect also attracted the presence of the State Commissioner for Women Affairs, Hon. Mrs. Ify Obinabo who immediately rushed to the scene upon hearing that one of the suspects had been captured.
Upon interrogation, the suspect, Princess, confessed to being involved in the incident, claiming that it was her first time in the child trafficking deal, as she was still new in the business.
She, however, declined to comment on the whereabouts of the stolen child and his accomplice, though, pledging to communicate with the accomplice as soon as her spoilt phone is fixed.
When this reporter, Izunna Okafor, questioned her, Princess, who said she came to Awka in April, declined to reveal how much she was paid in the business, while also refusing to disclose what she does for a living in Awka.
Although, some spectators and unconfirmed sources who said they recognized her face, identified her as one of the roadside commercial sex workers keeping the city ‘warm’.
Commenting on the incident, the State Commissioner for Women Affairs, Mrs. Obinabo, who utterly condemned the act, also reproached Princess for putting her fellow young lady into such distress and severe trauma, just for selfish gains.
She regretted that many people, especially women and young girls who should understand what the pain of childbearing feels like, still engage in child trafficking and selling of their fellow women’s children, despite all the efforts the state government is making to bring a perpetual end to that in Anambra.
Commissioner Obinabo also re-emphasized that the Governor Chukwuma Soludo-led administration in the state has zero tolerance for child trafficking and any other kind of illegality, warning that anybody caught, must be made to face the full weight of the law to serve as a deterrent to others.
As at the time of filing this report, the suspect has been handed over to security agency for further interrogation and investigation.
