An eight-year-old girl, Ojelabi Oyindamola, whose brother was reportedly kidnapped on Wednesday, says she knows the abductor of the four-year-old.
According to reports, Oyindamola and her brother, Ojelabi Michael, a Nursery 1 pupil, were returning from their school, Mafina Primary School on Great Challenge Road, Unity Estate, in the Iba area of Lagos at about 3.30pm when a certain unidentified woman abducted him.
It was learnt that the woman, who is still at large, escaped with Michael on a motorcycle, The Punch reports.
Oyindamola, who is in Primary 2, weekend, disclosed that she could identify the woman if she saw her again, just as the police said they had launched a manhunt for the suspect.
The 8-year-old, recounting the incident, said she had initially refused to allow Michael go with the woman, who claimed to be their mother’s friend. She described the woman as tall, fat and dark in complexion.
“My brother and I were coming from the school that day when one woman approached us. She said she was our mother’s friend. She said my mother told her to pick Michael.
“I said no because I did not know her as my mother’s friend, but she left with him and told me to go back to the school, that she would come and pick me later.
“I was almost at the school gate when it dawned on me that my brother had been abducted.
“I was crying and told my mother. I can identify the woman if I see her. She is tall, fat and dark in complexion. She also has tribal marks,” she added.
Her father, Sunday Ojelabi, said the children would have been picked from the school by their mother, but she was engaged in a task which delayed her. He said the abduction was reported at the Ojo Police Station.
“Their school is close to our house. Their mother takes them to school and picks them at the closing time. I was in the office when my wife called me on the telephone that they were looking for Michael. I joined them and we searched everywhere to no avail.
“The mother was doing something that day and had a short delay, so she could not pick them (the children) immediately the school closed. We have reported at the Ojo Police Division. Some people around the area said they saw Michael on a motorcycle with a woman. But they did not suspect the woman had any ulterior motive until we started looking for him.”
The mother, Mrs. Elizabeth Ojelabi, said she was cooking when it occurred to her to go and pick her children from the school.
“The school closes at 3pm and by 3.05pm, pupils would be at the school gate. I was cooking when I checked the time and discovered it was 3pm. I rushed to have my bath. I got to the school at 3.15pm.
“I met Oyindamola crying. She said somebody had gone with her brother,” Elizabeth added.
The Lagos State Police Public Relations Officer, SP Dolapo Badmos, said the police were on the trail of the suspect.
“We established negligence on the side of the mother, but the police are carrying out investigation into the matter,” Badmos stated.
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