From Scholastica Onyeka, Makurdi
Sunday, September 25, 2023, would remain a bad day in the home of Mr and Mrs Godwin and Esther Kpaakpa as long as they live and except God intervenes, their life would never remain the same.
On the said Sunday, their two children, six-year-old Philomena Kpaakpa and two-year-old Benedict Kpaakpa were abducted by a yet to be identified woman and taken to unknown destination.
Since then, tears of family members, friends and well wishers have continued to flow just as prayers for the release of the children have been intensified from sympathizers who throng the home of the Kpaakpas to comfort them.
Our correspondent gathered that the incident occurred after the Sunday Mass, which they attended at the St Peter’s Catholic Church, Low Level area of Makurdi, the Benue State capital.
Their mother, Mrs Esther Kpaakpa, has been selling soya milk, a local drink made from soya beans, after the first Mass at 6.30am, which she attends. And while she is at it, she usually sent the children to assist her in one way or another – serving customers and collecting money.
On this day, while the Mass was ending, Mrs Kpaakpa sent the children to their house, few meters away from the church, to get the drinks from the fridge for sale. It was while they went home that the strange woman, in the pretext of buying soya milk, abducted the children.
Narrating the incident to Daily Sun, on Tuesday, Mrs Kpaakpa said: “I went to 6am Mass that Sunday morning at Saint Peter’s Catholic Church Low-Level Makurdi. I do sell soya milk there every Sunday after Mass by the gate side.
“So, that Sunday, I sent one of my daughters to go home and remove the soya milk from the fridge and bring it to church where I do sell.”
When the Mass ended, Mrs Kpaakpa was waiting for the children at the gate when the story got to her.
“So, after the Mass, many people were passing on the road and one lady approach my daughter to give her one soya milk, the one for N50. When the woman collected the drink, she gave my daughter N500 but my daughter told the lady that she didn’t have change.
“She told the woman that she should come and meet me inside the church and get her change but the lady refused. She rather suggested that she will go to a nearby supermarket along the street and buy something so she could get the change there and give her.
“So, my daughter sent the younger one, Philomena, who was with her, to follow the lady and collect the money. When she was going, the the last one that is up to two years, Benedict, was crying to follow Philomena. So when the boy started crying, the lady picked the small boy, held him by the hand and was heading towards the shop with them.
“Before she left, she told them she will go to that shop and buy something and get change and that she will give them to return. But instead of coming back, nobody saw them again nor the lady.”
Narrating further, the devastated mother said neighbours told her that they saw everything that happened from where they stood but was so dazed to do anything.
“They said they stood and was watching how the lady was walking away with the children but they couldn’t say anything. They couldn’t open their mouth to talk, it was as if something sealed their lips.
“A neighbour told me that while the woman was going with the children, she ran into the compound asking where is my daughter. Where is my daughter, that she should come outside and see one girl going with their sisters but when they came out they didn’t see the woman again.
“While all this was happening in front of my house I was waiting for them at the gate in church for them to bring the soya milk for me to sell. The house is at number 10 Badagry Street, by St. Peter’s Catholic Church,” she said.
She stated that her husband reported the incident at the B Division police station in Makurdi and at the police headquarters.
Also speaking, the father of the children, Mr Godwin Kpaakpa, said he reported the case to the Benue State Police Command as soon as the incident happened.
He said: “When they told us what happened, I went immediately to the B Division Police Station but after I gave them the information about the incident, they told me that it must be after 24 hours before they can declare them missing.”
The distraught father appealed to the government to review that part of the law, saying: “I think the government should amend this particular part of the law because if someone takes your child or kidnaps anyone in the morning and you’re waiting for 24 hours to declare the child missing, it means that before you start looking, the perpetrator would have gone very far with the child.
“So, when they told me that, I also went to the state headquarters and they repeated the same thing but I gave them the necessary information they were asking for. They also collected my number and said if they have any news, they will call me.”
He further appealed to the state government and the security agencies. “Please, help me find my children. They are innocent children and have not offended anyone. Please, help me find them.
“We are also praying continuously to God to bring my children back to me. God should please take control and bring my children back,” he kept on saying.
Meanwhile, close friends of the family, Mr Solomon Tica and Jessica Ningir, all sympathized with the Kpaakpa family and called of the police to assist in finding their children.
Ningir said since Sunday, the house of the victims have witnessed series of activities from sympathizers, particularly church groups who throng the place for prayers for the safe return of the children.
She described the incident as sad and unfortunate, wondering why a woman would take a fellow woman’s children in that manner causing pains to the entire family. She prayed that the authourities would find the children soon and reunite them with their family.
When contacted, the police public relations officer in the state, SP Catherine Anene, confirmed that the matter was reported to the police and they were working on it.
