Kidnapping for ransom, child abduction, and human trafficking have sadly become increasingly common in Nigeria. Reports indicate that hundreds of children have either been killed or are still in captivity of their kidnappers. On November 20, five children were kidnapped by a next-door neighbor in the Shendam community of the Shendam Local Government Area of Plateau State. Daily Trust Saturday visited the community and reports.

House Rent, popularly known as Dogon Gida, located at Anguwan Kabari of Shendam Local Government Area of Plateau State, accommodates almost 20 tenants of people from different ethnic and religious backgrounds.

Tenants and residents of Shendam town were thrown into confusion on November 29 when news broke out that five kids were abducted.

The victims are all below the age of five and had just returned from school when, as usual, their kidnapper (tenant), asked them to follow her to buy biscuits. During the five days she stayed in the house, she consistently took them outside and brought them back, unknown to other tenants that she was doing that to familiarise herself with the kids.

Even though it was early for the victims’ parents to allow their children to be close to her, especially since she was a new tenant and had not stayed up to a week, her kindness towards every tenant in the house, including their children, would not allow anyone to have a second thought about her movement.

Our correspondent reports that within five days of her stay in the house, the woman was able to make all tenants believe that she was a Good Samaritan.

Explaining how the children were abducted, the affected parents said they were shocked to realise that their neighbour was responsible for the act despite being good to all of them in the house.

“I was in the market when suddenly, a tenant from the house met me, saying that the woman who just came to the house had disappeared with our children. I rushed to the house to fine out the situation and it was confirmed that the woman and the children were nowhere to be found. We reported the case to police station and some security checkpoints on the roads.

“Nobody knows her or where she came from. This is a woman we trusted wholeheartedly within a short period of time. When she came to the house, we embraced each other because she was kind to everyone, and this endeared our children to her. She usually took them outside to buy some sweets and biscuits and even started offering them free additional lessons in her room. She used to go out and return with them, unknown to us that she was a devil.

“However, on the last day she went out with them, we had no idea that she had planned to kidnap them. It was a shock for us to hear that she had abducted the children, “Musa Muhammed, a father to one of the victims said.

For Musa Ali, another parent, the story came to him as a surprise. He said, “I never believed that the same woman we allowed our children to associate with would go to such an extent. She appeared to be a good person, but inside her was something bad.

“I was worried when the news of the abduction reached me. I found it difficult to understand how she managed to successfully kidnap the children.

“But I am delighted that my child is back. It wasn’t our efforts that rescued these children; I thank God and all those who participated in the recovery process.”

Aziya Abdullahi, also a mother to one of the victims, while explaining her ordeal, said she had cried when she realised her only son was among those kidnapped by the next-door neighbour, noting, “We believed she was a good mother and embraced our children. Obviously, she loved them so much, but we didn’t know she was luring them and that was why we allowed our children to be close to her. We were deeply worried, but I in particular was in tears because she took my only son. This has taught us a profound lesson, but and we are relieved that they are back.”

How victims were rescued by a taxi driver

Anas Sambo, a taxi driver who was hired to take the victims and their kidnapper to Abuja explained how he rescued the children.

The driver said he was scheduled to take them from Shendam but his vehicle was already full with passengers who would disembark in Lafiya, so he asked another driver to transport them from Shendam and hand them over to him in Lafiya and he agreed.

He said, “Upon arriving at Lafiya, with the children now in my vehicle, one of the victims suddenly addressed me as ‘uncle.’ She is a daughter to my elder brother. She is called Khadija. I was surprised to see a girl I had known before now without their parents. I then observed that all the victims spoke Hausa while the woman leading the journey didn’t.

“I know that Khadija’s father is of Hausa parentage. I communicated with all the victims in Hausa and they didn’t know where they were travelling to. Something came to my mind and I began to have doubt over what was happening. The situation raised serious suspicion.

“I refrained from shouting to call the woman a ‘kidnapper’ because she might have been at risk of being harmed by people around. Instead, I promptly reported the situation to nearby soldiers. Unfortunately, by the time we returned with the soldiers, the woman had already fled.

“Arriving with the soldiers, I dialed her father’s phone number but it wasn’t going. I called a friend to inform the house of what was happening. But even before I narrated to him what was happening, he quickly told me that all was not well in our community —that a woman had kidnapped five kids and nobody knew her whereabouts. I then told him that I have seen them. The soldiers took them to Makurdi in Benue State, where the victims were later handed over to their parents.” (Daily Trust)

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