The whereabouts of a four-year-old Nursery 2 pupil, Chidogam Wike, is shrouded in mystery, three weeks after he was abducted in his parents’ compound on Ekani Avenue, Mile 4, Wimpy, Port Harcourt, Rivers State.
The kid was said to be playing with other children on the premises when a stranger lured on the pretext to buy him a toy.
Saturday PUNCH gathered that his parents had left him and his six-year-old brother behind while they attended a burial in the neighborhood on Saturday, July 7, 2018 around 12pm.
They were at the event when they received the news of their son’s abduction, which made them to rush back home.
Chidogam’s mother, Blessing Wike, said after a search around the community yielded no result, the case was reported to the police.
She said, “He is my second child. He and his brother were playing outside with other children when my husband I went for the burial. We were at the funeral when a neighbour called me that they could not find Chidogam. I learnt one man wearing a Fez cap abducted him while he (the abductor) was playing with the children with toys. We have been looking for him since then.
“I believe the man used charms because my son doesn’t follow people like that. We have reported to the police and done the necessary things. We are hoping in God to reunite him with us in a miraculous way. His elder brother wanted to give him food when he discovered he was missing.’’
Chidogam’s uncle, who spoke to our correspondent on the telephone, said the kidnapper took advantage of the burial to kidnap the boy, adding that the case was reported at the Anti-Kidnapping unit and the Kala Police Station.
She said, “Two Saturdays ago, somebody came to where Chidogam was playing with his mates and started giving them toy guns and aeroplane. On getting to Chidogam’s turn, the man said the toys had finished and he asked the boy to follow him so he could get his own toy.
“There was a burial in the commu nity that day which the parents attended. The person took advantage of the burial to abduct him because adults were not around. The children were playing in the compound. They said the abductor was a young man. We have gone to the Anti-Kidnapping unit at Miniokoro. We also reported the case at the Kala Police Station and the police promised to investigate. Nobody has contacted us. We did not suspect anybody.”
The Rivers State Police Public Relations Officer, Nnamdi Omoni, promised to get back to our correspondent with comments on the abduction.