BY AGNES NWORIE, ABAKALIKI
A couple, Mr. and Mrs. John Blessing Nwevo, natives of Obiagu Ugwulangwu community in Ohaozara Local Government Area of Ebonyi State has narrated how some of their neighbours refused to join them in searching for their baby after her disappearance.
The couple explained that some hoodlums allegedly abducted their five months old baby, Ella, in their house located in the village in the evening of September 25, 2023.
They fingered some of their neighbours in the disappearance of their child and appealed to the state government to intervene and assist in recovering their allegedly kidnapped baby alive as soon as possible.
According to the mother of the missing baby, Mrs. Blessing Nwevo, she had laid the child in their room, closed the door while she went to the kitchen to cook.
Suspecting the involvement of her neighbour’s daughter identified as Ekpereamaka, Blessing said, “I noticed human presence coming towards my apartment, immediately I flashed my torchlight, she hid herself. I recognised her and called her immediately by name and she came out of hiding in surprise. It was my neighbor’s daughter, Ekpereamaka. She asked for the whereabouts of my youngest baby, Ella; I told her she was sleeping in the room. She followed me to the kitchen and kept me company with many stories while I cooked.
“During that time, I heard noise towards my room but she stopped me from going to check. She told me not to go to check on my daughter because the noise I heard was from the chicken pens and not my room. With that, I stayed back. After about ten minutes, she wanted to leave but I insisted she stay back and eat the food I was cooking. When I was done with the cooking and on getting to check on my baby, lo and behold, she was no longer on the bed I laid her or anywhere around. My door was widely open, the cloth I used to cover her now on the floor towards the door.
“Immediately, I cried to my friend’s father, our neighbour who is also the Vice President of the community, popularly known as Obiadada for announcement of the incident via a town crier but he objected to it, saying that the kidnappers will not be found if the information is disseminated. Our other neighbour said she heard the sound of a motorcycle from my compound but was not able to identify the riders because it was already dark into the night and there were no street lights in the village.”
She disclosed that Ekpereamaka and other suspects have been arrested by the police and that they would soon be arraigned “because from all indications, she (Ekpereamaka) knows those that kidnapped my baby. She and a few others are currently in police custody. It is bad that even villages are no longer safe.”
On his part, the father of the kidnapped minor, John Nwevo, suspected foul play and lamented that the village stakeholders were reluctant about searching for the baby.
Explaining how some neighbours who were supposed to join in searching for the missing baby were busy drinking and making merry, John claimed, “I told our Vice President, known as Obiadada, to announce the incident as we always do for other villagers to be aware and look out for the perpetrators but he refused. Instead of forming search parties, he assembled the youths, bought drinks and made merry all through the night till dawn for reasons best known to them.
“Can you imagine that the same girl who confused my wife from going to check on her baby when she heard sound from the house, her father, Obiadada, a native doctor and our Vice President is reluctant instead of being proactive in the face of the security threat under his domain. He looked down on me because I am poor and don’t have wealthy relatives. I want the government to assist me to find my daughter, she is not guilty of any crime. Why harm an innocent baby? We have been expecting calls for ransom from her kidnappers but till this moment we have not gotten any,” he added.
