The children
Three siblings who were declared missing in Abuja two weeks after they disappeared from school in Abuja have been found by the police.
Recall that on March 22, Joy Ani, mother of the children identified as Marvelous, Alex and Rehoboth, had gone to pick them up from their school, located around the ECWA One area of Kabusa, but they were nowhere to be found.
Confirming the latest development to Punch on Monday, the elated father said he was called from the Wuye Police Station to come and identify three children in police custody.
"This morning, I received a call from the Wuye Police Station asking if I was the father of Marvellous Alex and Rehoboth (Chinenye) and I said yes. The caller asked me to come, that my children were there," he narrated.
"I quickly rushed out of bed, called one of my brothers and went straight to the station. On getting there, I saw my children and I was happy. Tuesday will be two weeks since their disappearance,"
"My wife and I hardly sit or eat because we are always going from one place to another. I don’t want this to happen to anybody; I thank God that we are alive. For some others, they would have died. With God, all things are possible. When you have faith, God will do it. I never one day thought that they would be back. God, my faith and people helped me.”
On her part, the mother of the children, Joy, thanked the police for finding their children.
The FCT Commissioner of Police, Sunday Babaji, said the children were found on Sunday April 3.
"After the receipt of the complaint, we made an entry of missing persons. We deployed all our intelligence assets and informed all our neighbouring states through our signal, describing the children. We worked with all the community leaders, vigilantes and hunters," the CP stated.
"We also searched the bushes; the school authorities were also invited to the police station for questioning over negligence. Yesterday (Sunday) around 8.30pm, our tactical men on a stop-and-search patrol at Wuye division, which is the Games Village area, saw the three children distressed.
'They rescued them, took them to the station and handed them over to a female police officer, who questioned them. The DPO was aware of the missing children at Kabusa, so he quickly contacted a fellow DPO there; he rushed down and it was discovered that they were the ones.
"After they were rescued, we took them to the Muhammadu Buhari Police Hospital for medical check-up. They were found okay, and a psychological check is tomorrow.” the CP added.