Two women tenants, identified simply as Mercy and Rose, have reportedly disappeared with two children of their landlord at Utese village in Ovia North East Local Government Area.
The names of the children were given as Amada, aged four, and Christable, aged two.
They were reportedly left in the custody of the tenants by their mother who went to the stream to wash her clothes.
The tenants, said to hail from Cross River State, were said to have moved to the community about three weeks ago and told their landlord that one was a farm hand and the other a hair dresser.
When their curious neighbours broke into their room, they discovered that the two tenants had taken their few belongings and vanished.
The residents told the distraught parents that they saw the tenants stopping vehicles on the highway but thought they were taking the children out as usual.
Addressing reporters in Benin, the state capital, mother of the missing children, Faith Osaruoname, said she used to leave her children with the tenants whenever she was going out.
The agitated mother said she went to the stream with her oldest daughter, adding that when she returned, she was told that her children went out with other children.
Mrs Osaruoname said it was when her husband returned that it dawned on her that the tenants had fled with her two daughters.
She said: “I thought the girls will soon return home with my children. So, I went to cook.
“After cooking, I wanted to go and get some water again when my husband came back. He asked me about the children and I told him they went out with the tenants. I later ran out to look for them but did find them. I have been calling the numbers of those girls and they were switched off.”
Father of the children, Omokpia Osaruoname, said he has reported the matter at the Okada Police Division.
Omokpia said he was surprised when his two daughters did not come out to welcome him home.
The agitated father said he was further shocked when his wife told him she had not seen the children since when she returned from the stream.
He added: “I went to Benin at 8 a.m. I left my wife and children at home with the tenants, who have not spent up to three weeks. Their mother said she was going to the stream so she left the children with the tenants. My wife said she returned at about 5 p.m and did not see the children.
“I said at 7 p.m my children are still not back. My wife ran out and started looking for them. She later called that they said the tenants had run away with my children.
“People said they saw them stopping a taxi. We went to various police checkpoints and the Okada Police Division.
“One is a hairdresser. They don’t have any shop. They begged me to give them a shop in my house and I told them to wait till the end of the year. Some boys in our area, who are their boyfriends, used to come and see them.
“They said their brother lives in the next village, but I have not seen him before. I don’t have their photographs; I don’t know anything about them. They don’t have any property except for carpet, curtains and few clothes.”