One year after he was recovered from suspected child traffickers, the parents of Joel Eroghene Henry-Osah, a four-year-old boy who was adopted in Delta State have raised alarm over the unwillingness of police to release their son to them.
The parents, Pastor and Mrs Henry Osah alleged that their son was among 12 children recovered by the police in the Gombe State command from an orphanage home in Anambra State.
Narrating their ordeal to newsmen in Ughelli, Ughelli North Local Government Area, Delta State, the father of the boy, Pastor Henry Osah alleged that his son was kidnapped on July 19, 2019 and was seen among the 12 children that were recovered by the police from a woman who was arrested in a community in Anambra state.
Saying that son was kidnapped at Emede community in Isoko South Local Government Area, he said he reported the matter at the police station in Oleh division. “The DPO in that station said he cannot handle the investigation, so they referred the case to the state police headquarters Asaba but police did not do anything.
According to him, “On 2nd of September, 2020, it was a Tuesday, I was in the house, the younger sister to the mother of my wife called me from Lagos, that there are some children that they saw in Anambra State, that I should go there. She said yes, that there is a place called 33 stations.
“I went there, my wife and I. When we got there, even the police when they saw the younger sibling, said the resemblance was clear. At the station, we were the first that they screened and they took pictures of us and asked us to wait. We waited till about 11 pm but nothing was happening before they now told us that the children will not be brought that night; that we should wait till the following morning. So, when they brought them the next morning, my child saw us and tried to run to us but the police took them to Gombe quickly ran and closed the door.
“The DPO of 33 police station brought out my son’s picture and was pointing it to me. He told me to go to Gombe, that it was Gombe state police command that did the work. When we were in Gombe, they brought a Hausa man that he is a father to my son, so we started that battle, they said we have to go for a DNA test because the Hausa man is claiming my child.
“Meanwhile, in the press briefing, we were the ones they interviewed, they congratulated us. I now asked the police, why did the Hausa man not come out to interrupt our interview with the press to say he is the child’s father? But they insisted that we must go for DNA.
“So I ran around, raised money, but unfortunately, the police did not do any DNA, they just falsified result and give to us, that the child is not my child. I am not a kid, I know my child, a child I gave birth to, two years-seven months, that I will not recognize him after one year.
“I ran to the federal ministry of women affairs, ministry of justice and begin to shout in Abuja before they now transferred the children back to Anambra state. They brought the children back to Anambra towards the end of January this year. The children are still in Anambra now.
“When they came to Anambra, they now compelled us to go for another DNA, we raised money, but the Delta State Ministry of Justice raised money and gave them N280,000. The police started telling us that they cannot see the result of the DNA, we said okay, if you didn’t see the result, let us do our own DNA, but they said we should wait, we now waited for six months.
“I am appealing to good-hearted and well-meaning Nigerians, NGOs to rise for me, the boy is a minor and they are oppressing him, he is too small to go through all these. I went there the other day, there were bruises all over his body because maybe the boy is not cooperating with them, what they are telling him to do.
“Maybe they have told him to be running away whenever he sees us. I want Nigerians, notable organizations who can help us to rise on this matter because there are people who are behind it.”
Contacted, Police Public Relations Officer of the Anambra State Command, Mr Tochi Ikenga noted that there were processes of releasing such children.
He explained that DNA is conducted using the mother of the child, adding that in most cases when the fathers are used, there were always discrepancies.
He said such children were usually handed over to the Ministries of Women Affairs of the respective states and promised to call back after checking the position of this case in question.