2 women arrested over alleged stealing, buying of boy

Two women have been arrested by the Adamawa State Police Command for the alleged stealing and buying of a four-year-old boy.

The suspects, Blessing Okonkwo, 24, and Efunaya Nabufe, 35, who reside in Mubi North LGA, have confessed to stealing and buying the boy, identified as Friday Okonkwo.

This is according to the Police Public Relations Officer, SP Suleiman Nguroje, who disclosed on Thursday that the mother of the boy, Hauwa Lawan, who lives at Rimirgo in Askira Uba, an Adamawa-Borno border town, reported the stealing of her son to the police on Tuesday, July 2.

Giving a background to the matter, Nguroje said Blessing, an elder sister to Friday, met their mother at Rimirgo sometime last year and pleaded with her to release her younger brother for her to enrol in school in Mubi as there is no standard school in Rimirgo.

Hauwa released the boy, not knowing that Blessing had concluded negotiations with Efunaya to buy the boy.

Blessing was said to have lied to Efunaya in the course of negotiations, saying that the boy was her son, a child she had while she was in secondary school.

She sold the boy for N410,000, according to her confession, and used the money to buy a grinding machine after giving N200,000 to her fiance.