Parents whose children and loved ones got missing under controversial circumstances in the northern part of the country, particularly Kano and Kaduna states, are crying out to the authorities to help and resolve the mysteries, Daily Trust Saturday reports.

There have been many reported cases of missing children from the northern part of the country on account of child trafficking. In some instances, the missing children are located in certain states in the South. For instance, what started like isolated cases of missing children in Kano State have gradually grown to become a great source of concern and discussions for many years.

The situation got to an extent that authorities at different levels had to intervene.

But families affected by the disturbing incident believe there is a lot to do to bring back their loved ones, provided they are alive.

Investigations by Daily Trust Saturday show that of recent, Kano metropolis has become a hub for such missing children.

Communities like Wurobagga, Walalanbe, Haye, Tinshama and Hotoro North have recorded many incidents of missing children.

The rate at which children kept missing in the state forced concerned parents to form an association they call Protection Against the Abduction, Missing of Our Children (PATAMOOC).

Comrade Ismail Ibrahim Muhammad, the chairman of PATAMOOC, said the association, with assistance from the current Kano State Government, had gone to several states trying to locate some of the abducted children.

He said some missing children were discovered in some parts of the country and reunited with their parents, but added that many are still missing.

He said some of the children were recovered from some states in the eastern part of the country, while many parents are still looking forward to recovering theirs.

He also said the association had recorded over 300 cases of missing children in Kano alone.

6 years on, man still searching for 5 kids, wife

Alhaji Shazali Yahaya Sani is the father of five children who, alongside their mother, were declared missing in 2018.

Sani, an aeromechanic engineer, who also deals in cars, said he had exhausted all his savings trying to get back his missing family members, who he believes are still alive somewhere.

The traumatised father had also appeared before the Judicial Commission of Inquiry set up by the immediate past administration of Dr Abdullahi Umar Ganduje to investigate the kidnap cases of several children in the state.

He was before the commissions to seek intervention to enable him recover his family members.

Sani was reported to have told the commission of inquiry, headed by Justice Wada Umar Rano (retd), that he had been in a serious emotional trauma and needed assistance to get his family back, whom he claimed were intentionally denied access to him.

Years after his plea at the panel, Sani said he was still helpless and did not know where to go and what to do because he had been left to bear his grief alone; hence he is in trauma.

“I am optimistic that my children are somewhere, kept away from me. I have the feeling that they are alive.

“I can vividly remember that my nightmare started when I had a misunderstanding with my wife, which made her leave my house for her relative’s in Gyadi-Gyadi Quarters in Kano.

“We resolved our issues within a few days, and my wife, Safiya G. Adam, requested money to do her hair. I gave her the money after we settled. That was the last I heard from my five children,” he said.

He said that after a series of enquiries, he found out that his wife had left Kano State for Plateau, in the company of his five children, to be with her father.

“I called her the next day and asked about my children, to which she told me that they were all fine. I also requested if she could link me with her father on phone, but she told me that he was not close by.

“I told her that I would want to speak with him if he came back. I also told her that I would want us to discuss at length later in the day. We discussed for about 20 minutes and agreed to continue the following day,” he said.

He said that after the discussion, he tried his wife’s phone number severally the following day but couldn’t reach her. He kept trying for days without any success before putting a call to her father, who told him that Safiya had left for Abuja to see her mother. But when he called her mother, she told him that Safiya was not with her. That was how the search for her whereabouts began.

It was reported that in February 2020, the commission submitted its report to the Kano State Government, yet Sani is still searching for his wife and five children.

“I have tried all my best possible searching for my children. Abdussamad was 12 years, Ummukhulsum was 11, Zainab was just 9, Yusuf was seven years, Sadiq was five and my wife was 31 at the time they got missing.

“I have pleaded with the panel and I am still pleading with the authorities concerned to assist me in recovering my family.

“I have encountered several security agencies; and I must confess that they have tried their best to assist me in recovering my family. But they all got tired along the way. I have made some discoveries that the security agencies wouldn’t want me to go public with. I know I have to bear my cross alone, but I have resolved never to give up. I will go public with my findings irrespective of whatever is going to happen. What matters to me is just to get my family back,” he said.

Sani said he travelled to Jos to meet Safiya’s father, but he maintained that she had gone to meet her mother in Abuja.

Mother of 3-year-old son still in pain

"I was about getting my son, Muhammad, who just came back from primary school, ready for Islamiyya when I realised that he was nowhere to be found.

“Today, 10 months after his disappearance from our family home, located on Jama’a Road in Unguwan Rimi, there is still no trace of him or words about his whereabouts,” the distraught Hauwa Muhammad said amidst tears.

This is also the story of some parents in Unguwan Rimi, Kaduna North Local Government Area, where the three-year-old Muhammad and a four-year-old Khadija were taken away from their community.

Our correspondent reports that the Kaduna command of the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) recently arrested a child trafficking syndicate operating in the area.

The police, acting on an intelligence report, rescued a two-year-old Zainab Abdulhameed, who was taken from the same area.

The police public relations officer in the state, ASP Mansir Hassan, said members of the syndicate who were apprehended during operation include Shehu Sani (40), who resides in Unguwan Rimi, Kaduna; Tskan Isiaku (43), also residing in Unguwan Rimi; Angela Onazu (44), residing in Sabo, and Hafsat Hussaini (24), residing in Unguwan Rimi, Kaduna.

According to him, they confessed to their involvement in the crime.

However, speaking to our correspondent, Muhammad’s mother, who was in tears, said she was hopeful that her son would come back.

“It is very painful not knowing what condition he is in, but I am hopeful that he would return to us,” she said.

She called on the government to do everything possible to find their child.

Giving a more detailed account of what happened, Muhammad’s father, Umar Sadau, said he was the one that picked up his son from his school near their home on June 5, 2023.

“I picked Muhammad from school that day and we ate together before I went out. It was not long after I left that the mother called, asking if I went out with him; I told her that I did not.

“After we searched the neighbourhood and did not find him, we went and filed a complaint at the Unguwan Rimi Police Station. We were assured that if there was any news of his reappearance, we would be contacted.

“Days after, we did not hear anything from the police, so we began our independent search; and when we could not find him, we resorted to prayers. As I speak to you now, it has been 10 months since he disappeared,” he said.

He expressed hope that his son would be found, especially with the arrest of suspected child traffickers. “We have submitted pictures of all the missing children in the area, about 20 of them, to the police, and they have assured us that they will follow the case to its logical conclusion,” he said.

He, however, said they were taking measures to ensure the safety of the remaining children.

Another victim, Jamila Usman, whose four-year-old daughter, Khadija was stolen seven months ago, also called on the government to help bring her back.

She said, “I want the government to do everything possible to bring back my child, who was taken from her home. I pray that God exposes the perpetrators of this act.”

On his part, the Sarkin Samarin Unguwan Rimi, Shamsudeen Bature, said the community was very disturbed over the recent theft of children in the area.

He noted, “We are constantly urging parents on the need to keep an eye on their children at all times so they do not fall victim. Already, about eight locations in the state metropolis have been identified.”

On why he thinks the incidents keep occurring in their communities, he said, “We are very careless with our children. A child will leave the house for hours without the knowledge of the mother, and by the time she realises that the child is not at home, he or she would have been long gone.”

He said that as part of measures to hold parents accountable for their children, they placed fines on any missing child found in the community to serve as a deterrent to parents.

He added, “It is unfortunate that while we thought strangers came and took our children, we did not know that we were living with evil neighbours who pretended to be good people.

“I want to use this opportunity to appeal to the police to ensure that the seven suspects in their custody over child trafficking are charged to court; and let them face the full wrath of the law,” he said.

Speaking on the matter, a Kano-based Islamic cleric, Sheikh Ibrahim Haruna Indabawa, revealed that the issue of children missing had become so rampant that Ulamas took to Friday mosques to create awareness, as well as caution parents on the need to rise up to their responsibilities.

He further revealed that the association of parents of Kano missing kids had also visited one of the state’s well respected clerics, Sheikh Abdulwahad Abdullah, to seek his support in their quest to find their wards.

He explained that Sheikh Abdullah received the parents and took the issue up, adding that the cleric had done a lot in assisting the parents in search of their missing children.

Meanwhile, the Kano State coordinator of the National Council for Child Rights Advocates of Nigeria, Hajiya Aisha Haruna Kabuga, said the rate of missing children in the state had generated a serious concern among parents. She added that her organisation organised a peaceful protest for mothers of the missing children and also organised several meetings that resulted in the intervention of the former First Lady, Aisha Buhari.

She further said that what started in Kano was gradually spreading to other states, stressing that there’s the need to implement effective measures that would put the menace to an end.

“In Unguwan Rimi, there is still no trace of him or words about his whereabouts,” the distraught Hauwa Muhammad said amidst tears.