My abductors fed me, other kids with pap, indomie noodles only

…Kidnapped four-year-old boy recounts ordeal to GatewayMail

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NIGERIA: THE abducted four-year-old boy, Steve Kanu, has narrated his ordeal in the hands of kidnappers.

It would be recalled that kidnappers had stormed the Laderin residence of Dr. and Mrs. Mucipay Kanu in a no number plate taxi when Steve was playing with the family dog within the compound.

The kidnappers knocked and as Steve rushed to open the gate, they grabbed him and escaped inside the cab.

And after media reported the incident, the kidnappers called Steve’s parents and threatened to kill the boy should they fail to halt further publicity on the disappearance.

Similarly, they called the parents and allowed Steve to talk to them on phone and, thereafter, demanded an undisclosed ransom before the boy would be freed.

And in order to guarantee the safety of their son, Steve’s parents paid N1 million as part of the ransom before eventually the abductors were apprehended by the police.

The boy, who looked emaciated after police detectives rescued him from kidnappers, said his abductors feed him daily with pap and Indomie noodles, in company of other abducted children.

“I ate pap and Indomie every day.  I am sleeping on a bed with other children. I don’t know the place, it is not our house,” Steve recalled in an exclusive interview with GatewayMail at his parents private residence in Laderin Estate in Abeokuta, Ogun State Capital

Steve, whose abduction enjoyed wider media blitz, said that for the three weeks he was in the captivity of his abductors, he missed his parents so much.

While granting the interview after his re-union with his family, GatewayMail correspondent observed that the boy became withdrawn in meeting visitors at his parents’ residence, as it took the intervention of the parents before he could grant the interview.

GatewayMail also noticed that he had been scared of strange faces in their home, a development which was linked to his trauma in the hands of the kidnappers.
The junior Kanu on sighting our correspondent in the family sitting room withdrew back into the inner room, but with the involvement and persuasion of his medical doctor father he resolved to speak, but not without his father in attendance.
Steve, who is popularly called Bishop by his parents, explained that throughout his ordeal, he was in company of some other kidnapped children where they were kept, and feeding them all together with pap and Indomie noodles.
Only barely two weeks ago, reprieve came the way of Steve as the police in Ogun State said that his suspected kidnappers had been apprehended in a village near Nsukka in Enugu State, which is about 10 hours trip from the scene of the abduction.

The Ogun State Police Public Relations Officer, Olumuyiwa Adejobi, who confirmed the arrest, said that the suspected kidnappers were already in the custody of the command, adding that they would be paraded before newsmen soon.

Adejobi, a deputy superintendent of police, said that Steve was “doing fine”, adding that further investigation into the abduction had commenced.

Kanu, who confirmed that his son had reunited with the family, however, expressed appreciation to the police, media and well-wishers for their support during the family travails.

He explained that due to the ordeal his son went through, which resulted in his emaciation and malnourished status, he had to undergo rehabilitation

The trauma the family went through was an open wound too much to bear, he also stressed.

Few days after, the police paraded the suspected kidnappers with the female member, Maureen Uchenna saying that policemen apprehended her at the time her proposed husband, Obinna Amoke, had concluded arrangements to pay for her dowry.

Maureen, who was part of the medical personnel at the hospital owned by the kidnapped boy’s father, arranged with Amoke to abduct the boy, police said.

The security operatives stormed the gang’s hideout in Nsukka, where Maureen and other culprits were nabbed.

Maureen told GatewayMail in Abeokuta, when policemen paraded her and others before newsmen, that her fiancé was the ring leader of the kidnap gang.

She said that the gang had earlier collected N1 million ransom from the victim’s parents, which had already been shared among them, and awaiting additional payment before they were arrested.
Maureen, 25, who was among the health team in the private hospital owned by Steve’s father, said the gang hide the victim in Abeokuta for eight days before he was moved to Enugu.
“We boarded a vehicle from Kuto Garage to Sagamu and took another vehicle to Nsukka,” the suspect disclosed, adding that the ring leader had earlier trailed the hospital ambulance to the doctor’s home to identify the place before they later came and abducted the boy.
While briefing reporters, the Ogun State Commissioner of Police, Almajid Ali, said that the three others arrested were Kenechukwu Amoke (21), Anayo Amoke (35) and Oluchi Asadu (20).

Ali stated that all the three suspects were arrested at the residence of Asadu, which has been serving as the gang’s hideout in Enugu State.
According to him, the link for the gang operation was Maureen.

Ali said: “It will be recalled that on 2nd November, 2015 some suspects went to the house of Dr. Kanumuangi Mucipay at Laderin Estate, Abeokuta and whisked away a young boy Steve Kanu.”

“The command then put its anti-kidnapping squad on its toes with a matching order to rescue the boy unhurt and arrest the hoodlums within a short time,” the commissioner said, adding: “The team put in place strategies and tracked down the suspects at Nsukka, Enugu State where the boy was kept.”
He added: “The boy was rescued on 19th November at 1700 hrs while the perpetrators of the act were arrested.  Uchenna Maureen Atuokwu and Oluchi Asadu were arrested at their hideout in Enugu. The arrest of the duo led to the arrest of additional two suspects, Anayo Amoke ,aged 35years, and Kenechukwu Amoke, aged 21yrs”
“Maureen was a nurse with the father of the victim,” he said, while further stressing: “She planned with one Obinna Amoke, who is a lover to Maureen to carry out the crime.”

Ali said: “The victim was kept in Anayo’s house in Abeokuta for eight days before they moved him to Enugu. Oluchi Asadu’s house in Nsukka was used as their hideout.”