….7-year old stolen at infancy and sold for N380,000 – Bauchi CP
By ARMSTRONG ALLAHMAGANI, Bauchi –
Bauchi State Governor, Bala Mohammed, on Wednesday received seven children who were stolen, their names changed and trafficked to Kano and sold there.
The Bauchi State Commissioner of Police, Auwal Muhammad, while handing over the children to the Governor at the Executive Chamber of the Government House, told the Governor that the stolen children were eight, one from Kano State while the remaining seven are from Bauchi.
He said that one of the children, who was taken when she was just an infant in 2016 and sold for N380,000.
“The first child who was stolen at infancy and investigation revealed that in 2016, somebody somewhere in the State came with his daughter which he wanted to marry out but unfortunately, they realized that she was pregnant, so they want to do away (abort) the pregnancy.
“So, one of the masterminds of the criminal acts used that opportunity and told them not to rush to abort it because if they abort it, there will be problems. He advised them to keep it till she gives birth and they bought the idea and when she gave birth and since they didn’t want the baby, they gave it to him. And he used that opportunity and sold that girl out. That’s why she doesn’t understand Hausa because she didn’t grow up here in Bauchi or in the north. He sold her for N380,000,” he said.
Furthermore, he said: “When we went to Kano, they told us that there was a boy that was stolen recently and was together with two Igbo women. They couldn’t speak Hausa but the boy continued speaking Hausa at the motor park. So somebody very brilliant and security conscious observed it and asked them where they got the child from and they said he is with them. He said there was no way he would be with them since he couldn’t speak their language.
“He quickly alerted the Police Outpost around the area and that was what led to the recovery of all these children because it is like a syndicate. Efforts were made by the Kano State Police Command but let it be for the information of His Excellency, that this was able to be perpetrated with people that are indigenes of Bauchi State.
“This Ruth Yerima, is from Yelwa area but she’s from Bogoro LGA, she is the mastermind of the whole crime. All the abduction of these kids, she is the Chief Coordinator or mastermind of the whole crime. The second person that is also from Bauchi State, who’s name is Abner Samuel, is equally from that Yelwa Area and is an indigene of Bauchi State. They connived to steak these children from the people of Bauchi metropolitan.
“The following children were taken from 2016, 2021 and 2023 all through Ruth Yerima. The first person’s name is not known but they gave her the name, Chiamaka and she’s seven years old. The second person is Hadiza Hassan, aged 8, they gave her the name Ochechukwu; the third child is Mahmud Biliyaminu, aged 3, they gave him the name Chibunna.
“Then there is Mohammed Iliyasu, aged 8, they named him Chidubem; there’s Abdulmalik Sa’ad, aged 5, they have him the name Ike; there’s Asia Mukhtar, aged 4, they gave her the name Chioma and there’s Usman Adam, aged 8, they gave him the name of Chibuike. We were able to make them (suspects) succumb and the investigation is going on in earnest.”
The Police Commissioner who appealed to the Governor for financial support so as to enable the State Criminal Investigation Department of the Command, intensify its investigations on the matter, pointed out that they will go to Anambra, Lagos and Adamawa states as part of their investigations, ‘so that they (suspects) will not get out of it.”
“The other person, unfortunately, has been caught up in this kind of thing sometime in 2014 and he was detained in Benue State and I think he’s still undergoing a case there, he’s a habitual criminal and he will not stop from it. We’re not going to rush in any way. Already, what we did in the first instance is to get a court of competent jurisdiction to give us a remand warrant for them to stay with the Police so that no any other idiot will come with any other thing from the court to say that there is overstay or whatever because we need so much time to go to the roots of this problem,” he added.
In a response, Governor Mohammed who said it was a solemn day for Bauchi, the north and the country expressed sadness over the incident and vowed that the culprits will not go unpunished.
He said: “I am calling on all security agencies, especially those that have responsibility on child rights implementation, that we must start working in earnest; we will give the Police and other security agencies the required tools and support to do it.
“NAPTIP should be able to work very hard because this state has shown that it is the center of missing babies and if this thing is not nipped in the bud, it is capable of causing very serious suspicion and mistrust between the different people of Nigeria. Because it is very unacceptable for people to be stolen, be sold, their geneology, linguistics, faith and everything changed just because of money, very little money. And I hope they are the only ones that this has been done to, I hope others have not been mutilated or killed for money.
“I am happy that they have been brought back alive and so they are the responsibility of Bauchi State. I’ve just interacted with the parents who have all edged to work and make sure that they keep their wards. But we are not just going to leave the go like this, they must sign an undertaking. And this has brought me to the issue of parenting and community responsibility.”
He warned that the incident should not be given any ethnic or religious colouration pointing out that it is purely a criminal act to get money by the perpetrators.
“I must say that this is not a religious endeavour or something that has to do with Islam or Christianity, it’s just a mischievous business venture that some people try to do in order to make money. Because you can see the trend that the children were taken to the South-East.
“I want the Commissioner of Police to go deeper and find out what the motive is and why it has to be Bauchi, why can’t they take their own children there? Why must they come to Bauchi? This is very humiliating and we’re not going to take it like that. Bauchi is so far away from the SouthEast that this thing can be done. And I am calling on our people not to allow this to cause suspicion and mistrust or create any conflict between our people and the Igbos that are staying here.
“The activity of one man cannot be used to generalize and that was why when they were generalizing on the Fulanis, I spoke and said, ‘’no’. There are always bad people everywhere and you can see how a few have spoiled the names of our good friends, our compatriots and we are not going to allow that. We must remain united to fight the scourge of criminality and crime,” he said.
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