Missing three-year-old boy found after PUNCH report

A boy named Abdul-Muqsit Willoughby, who was reported missing shortly after the Eid-el-Adha prayer on Sunday, June 16, 2024, has been found after a PUNCH Metro report.

The toddler’s father, Fuad, excitedly shared with our correspondent in a phone conversation on Monday that the boy was dropped off on a nearby street by an unknown driver.

PUNCH Metro had reported that Abdul-Muqsit went missing after his parents returned to their family home on Ajagun Lane in the Lagos Island area of Lagos.

On Monday, June 17, 2024, Fuad told PUNCH Metro that he had left his son in the compound with family members while he went to assist with the ram slaughtering.

“I do not live in Lagos. I only came for the Sallah holiday at my parents’ house. When we came back from the Eid prayer ground, I was busy with the ram slaughtering. The setting he was last seen in is a big compound (Agbole), and a lot of people kill their rams in each house as well.

“He was seen sitting with my mother and nephew, who is a little child as well. My mother is not physically fit, so she did not know when he left her side.

”My wife came with him to the family house that morning. No one knows him around; he is new here, unlike his elder brother, who has friends here, and he is not known by many residents here,” said Fuad in response to an earlier interview.

A senior police officer at the Adeniji Adele Police Division, who requested anonymity due to a lack of authorisation to speak for the command, confirmed to our correspondent that the matter had been reported and was receiving attention.

He said, “They reported the case to the control room, who radioed the Lagos State Police Command, and we have not heard anything since.”

Meanwhile, Fuad, while commending PUNCH Metro for its timely report, stated that the boy had been taken to the hospital for medical attention.

He said, “A black Jeep dropped him off at Beecroft. The place is not far from our house. The people who witnessed it did not realise that it was a child that was dropped off.

“They said the driver hurriedly zoomed off immediately after. It was only when they got closer that they realised what had happened.

“We had the boy’s pictures all over the street. It was easy for them to quickly conclude that he was the same missing child. They brought him to us last week.”