By Favour Ulebor, Abuja
The Director-General of the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP), Binta Adamu Bello, has dismissed claims that the agency’s operatives abducted children during a June operation in Asaba, Delta State, insisting that the mission was a lawful rescue exercise.
Speaking at a media briefing on Friday at the agency’s headquarters in Abuja, Bello explained that the operation led to the rescue of eight children allegedly stolen from Kano State.
She said negative narratives, especially on social media, had sought to misrepresent the intervention as an abduction carried out by NAPTIP.
The NAPTIP boss explained that the case originated from a petition received in December 2022 from the Protection Against Abduction and Missing Children (PATAMOC), which raised alarm over child abductions in Kano State.
Investigations, she said, uncovered that one Hauwa Abubakar of Gombe State was arrested by police for being in possession of stolen children.
Hauwa admitted to selling 21 children to one Nkechi Odlyne, who allegedly sold seven of them to Christopher Ogugua Nwoye, proprietor of Happy Home Orphanage in Asaba, at N450,000 each.
She disclosed that three of the four children recovered were identified by their biological parents in Gombe, while the fourth child, identified through photos circulated by PATAMOC, was claimed by a Kano mother as her missing daughter, Aisha Buhari.
To rescue the girl, Bello said, NAPTIP deployed operatives to Asaba on June 12, 2025, in collaboration with PATAMOC and the Kano State Parents’ Association of Missing Children.
She said, “The main aim of this briefing is to clarify some issues that have found their way into the media space especially the social media in recent weeks against the Agency with regards to an operation carried out by our operatives in Asaba, Delta State in June this year, leading to the rescue of 8 children allegedly stolen from Kano State.
“That operation has led to negative narratives by various persons including those who were commenting innocently based on their acceptance of the skewed narratives of the suspect who has made himself unavailable to the Agency for proper investigation despite invitations through phone calls and through his lawyers.
Some have even gone ahead to call the Agency unprintable names and dubbed the operation an ‘abduction’ by the Agency.
“The said Christopher Ogugua was subsequently arrested in Gombe State, and upon interrogation, he admitted the crime and subsequently returned four (4) children. Christopher Ogugua Nwoye, Hauwa Abubakar and Nkechi Odlyne are currently undergoing prosecution at the High Court 1 Gombe State. While the two women are in prison custody, Mr. Nwoye perfected his bail and is attending court sessions in Gombe.”
“For a hitch free operation, and in line with the Agency’s procedures, a letter was submitted to the office of the Delta State Commissioner of Police same day requesting support to the operatives to carry out the operations.
“In a signal of 13th July, the Deputy Commissioner of Police who acted on the letter sent a signal to the Area Commander, Asaba as well as the Divisional Police Officer, B’ Division directing them to give the NAPTIP team the needed support,” she explained.
The DG added that armed police officers accompanied the team to the orphanage, where over 70 children were profiled. Eight were positively identified through photographs, including Aisha Buhari.
She stressed that no arrests were made during the operation as only the proprietor’s wife was present.
“No arrest was made there as the wife was the only adult available at the time and taking her away would cause problems within the facility as a result of the large number of children there including toddlers,” she said.
Bello revealed that attempts to get the proprietor to present himself for questioning had failed.
Instead, he allegedly resorted to blackmail and mobilised women to lay claim to the rescued children.
The DG said the children are now in NAPTIP’s protective shelter while investigations, including DNA testing, continue.
“Be assured that the Agency will not hand over any of the children to any of the claimants until investigations which include a DNA are concluded,” she stated.
Reiterating that the operation was lawful, Bello said, “It is important to restate that the rescue operation by operatives of the Agency at Happy Home Orphanage was not an abduction as the Agency does not engage in such condemnable action but a lawful undertaking under the Trafficking in Persons (Prohibition) Enforcement and Administration Act, 2015, which empowers NAPTIP to investigate, rescue, and prosecute cases of trafficking, abduction, and related offences.”
She called on claimants to come forward for proper investigations instead of dragging the matter on social media.
She said, “We are also calling on the Delta State Government to carry out a thorough investigation on the activities of the Happy Home Orphanage to unravel the unwholesome practices going on there as also admitted by the Commissioner for Women Affairs of the State.”
She assured that the agency remains committed to concluding investigations expeditiously, prosecuting those found culpable, and reuniting the children with their lawful families.
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