The prime suspect in the kidnapping incident of a 12-year-old girl, Favour Oluwaseyi in Obio/Akpor Local Government area of Rivers State on August 7, 2024, had been traced by men of the Nigeria Police to the Enugu Correctional facility.
The suspect, simply identified as Chiboy, is an inmate at the facility, as the phone number used in calling the mother of the victim and the account number used in receiving a demanded ransom of N100,000 were traced to him.
Expressing their displeasure over the ugly development, the Rivers Civil Society Organisations have called on the Inspector General of Police and the Controller-General of Nigeria Correctional Service to unmask and arrest the suspect who has been operating and masterminding abductions from the Enugu Correctional facility.
Speaking during a press briefing on Thursday, Chairman Rivers Civil Society Organisations, Comrade Enefaa Georgewill, said it was unfortunate that criminals now use correctional centers as hideouts to perpetrate crime and criminality in the society.
The civil rights defenders however, expressed disappointment that efforts made by operatives of the police to arrest the suspect after unravelling his identity were resisted by officials of the correctional facility.
He said, “The story of Oluwaseyi is one story too many in our society and it goes to show the complicity of our security agents, especially the police and wardens in correctional facilities, otherwise called prisons in the continuous atrocious crimes going on in Rivers State and across the country.
“It is barbaric and shameful that eight months after a kidnapping incident, we are still talking about this matter even though we have already gotten the primary suspect who has been traced to Enugu prison.
“What again is the police waiting for, except that men of the police and wardens of the correctional facility are complicit in this matter, otherwise this matter is straightforward.
“We are saying the controller general of corrections should immediately ask his men in Enugu prison to provide the criminal who have kidnapped Oluwaseyi, we are equally calling on the inspector general of police to ask his men to do the needful by making sure that all those who are involved, especially the young girl that lured the victim out of the house that have been caught on camera.”
RIVCSOs further called on the Nigeria Police to invite the friend of the kidnap victim who was seen on CCTV camera escorting the victim to meet the kidnappers on that fateful day.
“We want the inspector general of police to ask his men to produce the girl, because from the information available to us, the girl is nowhere to be found, the girl and her parents have parked out of the house, and the police are saying that they don’t know their whereabouts.
“To date, the young lady who lured Oluwaseyi out of the house is nowhere to be found. We are saying the Inspector General of Police should make sure that the police in Rivers State provide that young lady.
“We are equally saying that he police should do everything humanly possible within their powers to make sure that all those who are found culpable in this matter, especially the wife of the kidnapper in prison whose phone number have been gotten should equally be brought back for security, anything outside this, we will be left with no other choice than to escalate this matter beyond this Press briefing.”
Explaining how his 12-year-old daughter fell into the hands of kidnappers, the 44-year-old father, Mr Ogunsinasi Oluwaseyi, said his daughter was lured out of his house in broad daylight by a neighbour on August 7, 2024.
He said the female neighbour led his innocent daughter to a waiting strange man who, upon laying his hand on his daughter, immediately took her away in a tricycle.
The distraught father of four is now begging well-meaning Nigerians to come to his aid in helping him secure the release of his abducted daughter, who had been in captivity for eight months.
