Mother of 3-year-old girl stolen overnight: I’m finished, had I known, I would have stayed back in Togo

Life is hard for Sojine Anani and his wife, Akuvi, a Togolese couple who came to settle in Nigeria about 10 years ago. This was immediately obvious right from the entrance of the cemented red-brick bungalow they live in on a street in Shasha, Akowonjo area of Lagos.

The Ananis live in a small one-room apartment with their three young children.

But between 2am and 4am on Monday, May 26, 2014, night marauders came calling in their home when Akuvi’s husband was away at work in Apapa area of Lagos.

Their target was one single thing; the couple’s three-year-old daughter, Blessing.

“I wish I did not come to Nigeria for a better life. My life is finished now, my child is gone,” Akuvi said.

“My life is over, I can’t stand this agony. I never knew a child could be stolen while asleep in her own house in the middle of the night. I knew thieves break in to steal money and other valuables, but I never heard of thieves breaking in to steal a child.

“This is unfair. I don’t even feel safe again. The police are not helping at all. Had I known, I would have stayed back in Togo. I am finished,” she told Punch correspondent.

On Sunday (May 25) Sojine left for work in Apapa. By nightfall, his young wife and three children went to sleep, in the same room.

But by morning, the girl among the children was missing.

Akuvi, a fair complexioned young woman, was dressed in a T-shirt and wrapper that did not seem to have been changed for days when she spoke with Punch

She strung along her words slowly but once in a while, her face creased into a sob that threatened her coherence.

The woman said, “I woke up around 2am to plug our rechargeable lamp when electricity came on. Two of my children slept on the bed beside me while Blessing slept on the floor on a mat.

“I went back to sleep and I remember Blessing was exactly where she was on the floor when we all went to bed in the night. By 4.30am, I woke up because it was my turn to sweep our compound.

“The first thing I noticed was that the drawer where I keep my children’s clothes was pulled out and placed on the floor. I put on the light and realised my daughter was gone.”

Police compound family’s suffering

For more than a week since Blessing went missing, her father has been languishing in police custody.

“I am confused, I don’t know what is happening to me. I can’t find my daughter and police has detained my husband in cell,” she told Punch correspondent.

Police demand bribe to release stolen child’s father… 

On Monday, Punch correspondent learnt that the policemen investigating the matter at the State Criminal Investigation Department, Yaba, Lagos said Sojine and neighbours detained with him would not be released until he had paid N220,000.

When Sojine and his family could hardly afford decent three square meals in a day.

When Punch correspondent relayed the accusation of extortion against the police to the Police Public Relations Officer in the state, Ngozi Briade, she swung into action and contacted the authorities of the SCID.

Braide explained that the father of the victim along with the other detainees were accused of “trial by ordeal.”

She said, “When the family reported the abduction, the police went in and questioned the parents of the abducted child. But later, we learnt they took a neighbour they suspected of being responsible for the abduction to a native doctor, who said the man was the culprit. That is illegal; we call that trial by ordeal in law.

“Later, police were alerted to an attempt to lynch the suspected man. A team intervened, rescued the man and arrested those responsible for the attempted lynching and trial by ordeal.”

Punch correspondent provided her with the names of the policemen accused of demanding bribe for the release of the victim’s father and the other individuals.

But after making her findings, she said the accusation was denied by the concerned policemen. She said the deputy commissioner of police in charge of the SCID had been notified about the case and had promised that they would be released on Tuesday.