One Emmanuel Okpara, has been arrested by the police in Lagos for selling his neghbour’s three-year-old baby for N20, 000.
The girl, identified as Onyeisi Success, was kidnapped from her home on December 22, 2015 and hasn’t been seen since then.
Okpara, a supposed family friend to the victim, was said to have immensely assisted the toddler’s father, Godwin Onyeisi, in searching for the girl, until he was accused by people who saw him with the child about the time she reportedly went missing.
Based on the accusation, Okpara was subsequently arrested and transferred to the Special Anti-Robbery Squad, SARS, Ikeja, where he allegedly confessed that he sold the toddler for N20, 000.
He, however, has not opened up on who the buyer is or where he could be located.
The victim’s father, Onyeisi, whose address was not mentioned, said he has spent all his savings, about N60, 000, on police investigations and other logistics to no avail.
Speaking with The Nation, Onyeisi said, “The worst part is that Okpara followed me to all the places I went to in search of my daughter, with the same cloth he wore when he kidnapped her.
“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.
“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,” the commercial motorcyclist added.
“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. Initially 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 had not seen her, I started going round the neighbourhood asking questions.
“For two days, we went round in search of my daughter and my neighbour was with me all through the period.
“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.
“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 who 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 clothes he was wearing, which happened to be the same cloth he wore while he was following me about. That was how the police detained him.
Onyeisi added that after some days, Okpara confessed that he was the one who took Success and that he sold her for N20, 000 through someone else to a man who lives in Okota.
“He finally confessed but 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,” the victim’s father said, adding that he had been going from church to church and they kept telling him his daughter was 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,” Onyeisi wailed.
“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 woman in whose house the ‘middleman’ usually slept was arrested but later released because she didn’t know anything about the case. The middleman gave the child to a chief, who handed her over to his prophet for sacrifice, reports allege.
The Police have, however, reportedly launched a manhunt for the buyer and the prophet he allegedly gave the child to. The investigation is supposedly still ongoing.
According to reports, all the locations mentioned by Okpara have been visited by the police but the child still hasn’t been found.
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