The Ogun Police Command has rescued another child, 10-year-old Promise Udeh,
found chained in a house at Saraki, Adigbe area of Abeokuta, Ogun State. She was rescued on Thursday around 7.30 pm when neighbours
living close to the building where she was chained alerted the police.
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| Promise as at the time she was found |
She was rescued barely a week after the police and
operatives of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps rescued a
nine-year-old boy, Korede Taiwo, chained by his father, Francis, for over a
month for stealing.
The father and his step-mother, Kehinde, would soon appear
in court.
The acting Police Public Relations Officer in the state,
Abimbola Oyeyemi, said Promise was chained by her aunt, Chiamaka Okafor, who
accused her of stealing N4,000. She was said to have been chained for two days (Wednesday
and Thursday) before she was rescued. Oyeyemi said Chiamaka is currently on the run but her
husband, Sunday Okafor has been arrested.
Narrating how the police found the child, the police
spokesperson said, “We had an information that the girl was chained to a
burglarproof window at an uncompleted building at Adigbe area and this led our
men to the scene. “The girl told us that it was her aunty who chained her on
the allegation that she stole a sum of N4,000. The woman is now on the run,
while her husband, who is an accomplice, has been arrested and he is helping us
in our investigation.”
Chiamaka, however, escaped arrest on Friday around 4pm, when
the Divisional Police Officer of Adigbe led a team of policemen and journalists
to the home of the Okafors, tucked in the inner part of the area. On sighting the police team, she allegedly fled through the
backdoor, leaving behind her four children including a baby of about six
months. One of them, Godwin said,”our mummy has gone to buy baby
food.”
A frantic search for her in the neighbourhood did not yield
any positive result. However, three of the Okafors’ relatives and a tenant who
occupied the boys quarters in the house, were arrested.
The tenant, Segun Poviesi, who’s a Beninese, said the
landlady (Chiamaka) was still in the house, barely few minutes before the
arrival of the police team. He said, “She was still around about two minutes before you
arrived here. I could hear splash of water from the bathroom of the main
building. But I did not know how she escaped.”
But his fiancee, Omotoyosi Odu, confirmed that Chiamaka, who
is the landlady, indeed chained Promise, adding that she was starved for the
two days before she was rescued. She told the policemen that the victim was
first chained to burglarproof iron in the Okafors’ kitchen, before she was
later transferred to a room in the uncompleted part of the boys quarters.
She said, “At a point, when the girl was chained to the
window in the kitchen, she was crying out to me that ‘I should please give her
food.’ Other neighbours too heared her cry.
“Then the landlord had left home for their shop at Pansheke
Market. Later, the girl was moved to the boys’ quarters and chained again. Some
of us tried to intervene but she warned us to steer clear, because it was none
of our business.” It could not be established whether Promise is a relation of
the Okafors or a housemaid.
Meanwhile, Oyeyemi, an Assistant Superintendent of Police,
said the new state Commissioner of Police, has ordered the arrest of the
fleeing suspect,Chiamaka, who allegedly chained the victim.
He said, “The Commissioner of Police, IIiyasu Ahmed, has
ordered a manhunt for the fleeing woman in order to bring her to justice, so as
to serve as deterrent to others. “The commissioner of police is not happy with the situation
barely a week after one Korede Taiwo was equally rescued from similar
situation. “The matter is under investigation and the police is after
Chiamaka Okafor. As soon as we complete the investigation, they will be charged
to court.”
Promise has been moved to the welfare home, Stella Obasanjo
Children’s Home, Ibara GRA, Abeokuta.
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