An artisan, Fatai Azeez, has said he was pushed to consulting many spiritualists after his children were kidnapped in Okokomaiko area of Lagos State last week.
Azeez, an auto mechanic, added that his wife, Suliyat, is almost losing her sanity after the incident.
The Punch is reporting that Azeez’s apprentice, identified simply as Grace, abducted the children – Farouk (4) and Kafayat (6) less than 24 hours after she resumed work in Suliyat’s shop.
According to him, the children were taken while their mother was away from home to attend a hairdressers’ meeting.
The apprentice was said to have left with the children under the pretext of going out to buy food and asking the children to accompany her.
Fatai said the matter had so far devastated his wife that he feared for her sanity.
“My wife is acting like a mad woman currently and only God would help us. I am just struggling to stay sane. I don’t know what to think. I don’t even know the girl. My wife said she is like Delta Igbo.
“I visited many spiritualists out of desperation and they are giving me hope that the children are still safe.
“They told me the children are still around and have not been harmed. I got a call from some people who have earlier seen our report in the newspaper that some children were found at the Seme border, but when I got there, my children were not among the four children.
“What I don’t understand now is why we have not received any call from whoever is keeping our children,” he said.
The couple have given statements at the Ojo Police Division but said they have heard nothing from the police. But Fatai expressed apprehension over the children’s health.
“My children rarely leave the house and I don’t know what could be happening to them right now,” he said.
Speaking also, Suliyat said all she knew about the girl, whose age she put at about 20, was that she lived with a friend (whom she does not know) in the area.
“The girl came to my shop on Wednesday and said she wanted to learn hairdressing. I asked who her guarantor was because she said she came alone.
“She said she stayed with a friend in the area and she would have come with her, but the friend had gone to work.
“On Thursday, Grace started work in my shop and on Friday, she disappeared with the children.”
Confirming the report, the state Police Public Relations Officer, Dolapo Badmos, said the police are still investigating the children’s abduction as well as working on every lead to recover the kidnapped children.
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