Parents of missing toddler, Gold Eniola Kolawole has said that life had become difficult for them without their child.
According to a report monitored on SaharaReporters by IGBERE TV, the parents said this during a brief chat with a reporter of the newspaper platform following the life imprisonment slammed on Prophet Alfa Babatunde, the founder of the Sotitobire Miracle Centre Akure, in Ondo State, over the disappearance of their child in his church.
Igbere TV had earlier reported that Justice Olusegun Odusola of the Ondo State High Court sentenced Alfa Babatunde, to life imprisonment over the disappearance of the one-year-old boy.
He was jailed alongside six other defendants: Omodara Olayinka, Margaret Oyebola, Grace Ogunjobi, Egunjobi Motunrayo, Esther Kayode, and Anjorin Gbenga.
Igbere TV recall that the one-year-old boy was declared missing on November 10, 2019, during a church service at the children’s section of Sotitobire Praying Ministry located at Oshinle Quarters in Akure, the state capital.
Reacting briefly to the judgement, the father of the missing child, Temitope Kolawole said he would prefer to remain silent over the judgement, noting that his lawyer would soon talk on behalf of the family.
He said, “We have heard the judgement. It is good, but we have been briefed and advised by our lawyer that we should still hold on for an interview with the press.
“So, I won’t comment now on the judgement, but it has not been easy for us throughout the ten months, and I wouldn’t want to say more than that.”
It will be recalled that the boy’s disappearance also led to burning of the church, located at Oshinle area of Akure, by the people in the area after a story went viral that the police had exhumed the corpse of the boy from the altar of the church. Although the information later proved to be false.
On December 10, 2020, the Department of the State Services re-arrested Babatunde and took over the case after a petition from the parents of the missing child.
After a series of interrogation by the DSS, the prophet was arraigned at the Magistrates Court sitting in Akure on a six-count charge on December 23, 2019, alongside the six other members of his church.
They were charged for conspiracy to commit felony to wit aiding and abetting abduction while their offences were a breach of Section 5 of Ondo State Anti-kidnapping and Anti-Abduction Law 2010.
The 7th defendant, Anjorin, had a one-count charge of destroying evidence which is punishable under the criminal laws of Ondo State.
The defendants were remanded at the Nigerian Correctional Services in Ondo State at the Olokuta Prison in Akure.
The matter was later transferred to the State High Court.
After ten months of legal battle, Justice Odusola finally convicted Babatunde and other defendants, having found them guilty “based on the circumstantial evidence” presented by the prosecution.
Earlier before his judgement, Odunsola said evidence showed that Modupe Kolawole handed over his son to the head usher, Margaret Oyebola, during the Sunday service.
He said the lackadaisical attitude of the prophet, immediately he was told the boy had gone missing, and conspiracy of silence by the teachers in the children’s department was intentional and calculated to cover their strange deal to run away with the child.
Justice Odusola also accused the Police B Division Akure of compromising and serving as a tool of oppression for the prophet in the case of the missing boy.
The judge, after that, sentenced the prophet to life imprisonment alongside the convicted church members.
