The Abuja police command has explained how a woman, Blessing Okoli, was arrested in Abuja two months after she abducted a four year old boy in Rivers State.
The boy, Hope Evans,a pupil of Community Primary School Azubie in Port Harcourt, Rivers State went missing from school on October 31, 2024.
Narrating how the boy was abducted and the eventual arrest of Blessing, the FCT police command spokesperson, SP Josephine Adeh, said Blessing, whom school officials could not identify at the time of the incident had gone to the school at 1:28 pm and lured Hope away from the school premises by offering him biscuits and eggs.
School officials however did not notice the boy was missing until his mother came back home in the evening and noticed her son was not at home.
They went back to the school to inquire about the boy’s whereabouts and some individuals who saw Blessing with the boy and knew her in the neighborhood as Destiny’s mum told his family who had come to pick him.
The spokesperson further said Hope’s mother, Miss Lydia Jonah Gabriel and her family members traced Blessing to her house only to discover she had hurriedly left the house the same night.
“On 1st November 2024, the family revisited the school and spoke with the principal. Several students identified the woman as Destiny’s mother, prompting the family to report the matter to the Trans Amadi Police Station. The case was later transferred to the State Criminal Investigation Department (SCID) for further investigation,” Eneh said.
While efforts to locate Blessing in Rivers were not successful, the family suspected she may have run to Abuja which led to the younger sister of the victim’s mother reporting the matter at the FCT Police Command.
The Commissioner of Police, FCT Police Command, Olatunji Disu has ordered an immediate investigation leading to the arrest of Blessing at Maraba on November 29 at 8pm and the recovery of Hope.
After her arrest, Blessing had claimed she was the biological mother of Hope and had changed his name to “David Evans.”
However upon further interrogation,she confessed that she actually changed the boy’s name to David and has started calling him so.”
According to Eneh, Blessing told the police that she abducted the boy to deceive her former lover named Evans that the boy was the product of a pregnancy she had some years back during their relationship.
Not suspecting foul play, the boyfriend accepted the boy thinking he was his child and had already started taking care of him.
Disu urged school owners to be more vigilant by paying more attention to the safety of children put in their care by parents and commended the officers who ensured Blessing was tracked and arrested while the boy have been handed to her mother.
She added that the suspect remains in police custody undergoing further questioning and would be charged to court accordingly.