Operatives of the Enugu State Police Command have arrested one Chinaza Okoh for kidnapping one-year-old Chisom Adumike in Amankwu Olikwu Awgu community in the Awgu Local Government Area of the State.
It was gathered that Chisom was coming from school on July 28 when her aunt, Okoh allegedly abducted her on the school field and sold her to her boyfriend.
According to PUNCH, the community youth leader, Sunday Nwafor, disclosed that while the woman had been arrested, efforts to recover the child had been abortive.
He said, “On July 28, Chisom was taken by her mother to school, while she left for the farm. They had an evening lesson that day, which made the school close around 4pm. But when Chisom’s mother came back from the farm around 5pm, she started looking for her, going from house to house, but no one could tell where she was.
“We joined the search as some children told us that another child, Ego, took her from school but on their way home, she dropped her on the school field, where Chinaza Okoh picked her up.
“We searched everywhere that day, but we could not find her. The next morning, we started searching again and noticed Chinaza making suspicious calls. Meanwhile, someone had already told us that three days before that day, Chinaza her to sell one of her children so that the person would get money to train her other children, but the woman refused; that made us invite the police to arrest her.
“When she was arrested, she denied at first that she knew anything about the whereabouts of the child; she later confessed that she was the one who picked her and gave her to her boyfriend from Mmaku, Micheal Chukwuobasi, and one Anioke Ikechukwu. We went in search of them with the police, but we could not find them.”
Chisom’s father, Ejimofor Adumike, said the absence of his child had put the family in disarray.
He said, “Chinaza sold my daughter to two men. I am not myself anymore; I need help to find my daughter. This child we are talking about is a twin; her second died on January 13 and now, the surviving one is missing. I want the police and the state government to help me find my daughter.”