A Lagos-based pastor, Joshua Ogbonna, says some suspected kidnappers abducted his son and used him to buy two bags of rice valued at N180,000 from a foodstuff seller in the state.
Ogbonna said his son, a 12-year old Junior Secondary School (JSS-2) student (name withheld) was asked to buy moi-moi (bean pudding) for family breakfast at about 9 a.m. on Friday, March 1, 2024, and did not return home.
He said when the boy went to the place to buy the moi-moi, the seller told him it was not ready, but collected the money and told him to return when it was ready.
The pastor disclosed that some minutes later, his son went back to the woman to collect the food but never returned.
Ogbonna said: “We were looking for him everywhere, we went to the place where he was supposed to buy the moi-moi and asked the lady selling.
“She explained that the boy was there earlier but the moi-moi was not ready, and that she collected N1,000 from him and asked him to come back later.
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“She explained that when he came back, he came with a man and the lady thought the man was his father. The man collected the moi-moi from her and they both left.
“She said the man was putting on a white top and black trousers, dark in complexion. I told her we had been looking for him, and thereafter, we went to New Oko-Oba Police Division at Abule-Egba to make entry so that they could help me look for my child.”
Ogbonna further explained that while they were still at the station, at about 5 p.m., he received a call from another police officer, who said he was calling from Red House Police Station in the Iju Ishaga area of Lagos.
The pastor revealed that the police officer told him his son was with them and he should come to the station.
He added: “The police officer, who called me said, this is not a case of a missing child, but theft.
“The officer said the child stole two bags of rice. I asked, how can a 12-year-old boy steal two bags of rice? I told the officer that we live in Abule-Egba.
“The police showed me footage of two men and the boy, who went to the rice seller. The policeman said that the men bought two bags of rice for N180,000.
“The officer said one of the men claimed that they had a church event and needed to buy rice. The man claimed he was the father of the boy.
“He asked the boy to wait at the rice shop; while he went home to get the money, he left with the two bags of rice in the company of the other man.”
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Ogbonna said the officer explained that when the man did not come back with the money, the rice seller asked the boy the “whereabouts of his father who brought him there”.
“My boy told the rice seller that he didn’t know the man nor where he lived, they started beating him, calling him thief, and while he was being beaten, a man came up to his rescue,” he disclosed.
Speaking on how the boy was abducted, the man said: “My son said the only thing he could remember was that he was on top of a motorcycle to a place with the man, where they took a tricycle to another place, from there, they took another motorcycle to Opawale, where the man abandoned him.
“The trauma was hell for my son. He has not recovered up till now. It was God, who saved his life.”
Confirming the incident, the Lagos State Police Public Relations Officer, SP Benjamin Hundeyin, said an investigation into the case was ongoing.
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