But for the ceaseless crying of a four-month-old baby
yesterday, three children may have ended up in a kidnappers’
den.
The cry of the baby, carried by Eno, the suspected kidnapper,
who was accompanied by a teenager, inside an Iddo, Lagos-
bound Bus Rapid Transport (BRT) vehicle, attracted other
passengers.
With the woman and the teenager, a girl, were two other
children—Happiness Effiong (four) and her sister, Patience
(two). They claimed that all three were Eno’s children.
Worried by the baby’s cry, other women inside the bus asked
Eno to breastfeed her.
But she refused. She was also unable to pet the baby to stop
crying.
Suspecting her, the passengers were said to have alerted men
of Iddo Police Station, Railway Terminus, who promptly
arrested her and her accomplice.
At the police station, Eno again refused all entreaties to
breastfeed the baby. Instead, she brought out a feeding bottle
containing an orange-colour watery substance, which the
baby refused to take.
Eno, who initially told the police that she lives at Iyana-Oba,
Majidun in Ikorodu, later said she stays at Igando.
Asked for her husband’s phone number, she claimed she does
not know it, adding that she does not have a phone.
The teenager, who she claimed to be her sister, was asked to
use her own phone to call any of their family members to
confirm Eno’s statement.
The unsatisfactory response from their supposed brother, who
she called, prompted the police to detain them.
Although the suspects insisted Eno is the children’s mother,
Happiness denied knowing either of them.
Happiness said she lives at the Air Force Base, Ikeja and gave
her father’s name as Effiong. She said they were taken from
their home by the woman.
“That woman is not my mother. My name is Happiness. This
is my sister Patience. My daddy’s name is Effiong. He is at
the Air Force Base.
“My mother and daddy are in the house. I do not know her
(Eno); she is not my mother. And I do not know her,” she
said while responding to questions.
Eno again changed her story, saying the children’s father is
one Effiong who works as a cleaner at the Air Force Base.
She claimed Happiness rejected her because she was arrested
by the Task Force on Environment few months after she gave
birth to her, adding that the girl doesn’t really know her.
“They are my children, I am their mother. If you think I am
lying, let us go to the Air Force Base and meet their father.
“I was arrested by former Lagos State Governor Babatunde
Fashola when she (Happiness) was like this baby I am
carrying now. Their father signed the paper for Fashola to
take me away.
“It was while I was with Fashola that I gave birth to this one
(Patience) and this one I’m carrying now is four months old. I
have five children, two with another man and these three with
Effiong,” she claimed.
According to police investigation, the newly hired maid
kidnapped the children in a bid to collect huge ransom from
their parents.
The children have been reconnected with their parents.
Stay in touch for more details
[The Nation]
