An Ondo State Magistrate Court, sitting in Akure, has ordered the remand of three persons, Sabira Izuora, Lukman Isiaka, and Abosede Olanipekun in prison custody for allegedly kidnapping and selling 14 children.
Men of the state police command had arrested the trio for allegedly kidnapping the four babies and 10 underage children in Osun and Ondo states. The police said after Isiaka and Olanipekun kidnapped the victims in both states, they sold them to Izuora who operated an orphanage home in Enugu State.
According to the state Commissioner of Police, Mr Wilfred Afolabi, during the parade of the defendants, they allegedly sold each child to the 62-year-old Izuora for N500,000 while the latter sold each of the babies for N1m to her customers.
They were arraigned before the court on Wednesday last week on seven counts, bordering on conspiracy, abduction, felony, obtaining by false pretences, and aiding and abetting.
It was however gathered that the police charged the defendants in court for stealing two babies while other victims were still in their custody.
The prosecutor, Inspector Augustine Omhenimhen, told the court that the offences were committed between July 21, 2023, and August 27, 2024, in various locations across the state.
He stated, “Olanipekun and Isiaka, on July 21, 2023, at Ire-Akari Hall, Orita Obele Estate, Akure, abducted a child, Ayomide Abass, from his mother, Korede Abass. Similarly, on August 27, 2024, at 8:00 a.m., in Arigidi-Akoko, Ondo State, they abducted a nine-month-old baby, Bright, from her mother, Patience Oliver.”
The prosecutor further alleged that Izuora received and harboured the victims paying N900,000 for each child, fully aware that they had been stolen.
According to him, the offences contravened Sections 516 and 317(1) of the Criminal Code and Sections 3(1)(b) and 5(1) of the Ondo State Anti-Kidnapping and Anti-Abduction Law, 2010.
Omhenimhen filed a written application requesting the court to remand the defendants at the Olokuta Correctional Centre in Akure, pending advice from the Office of the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP).
In his ruling, the magistrate, Taiwo Lebi, held that the court lacked jurisdiction to take the defendants’ pleas, and ordered them to be remanded at the Olokuta Correctional Centre. He directed that the case file be sent to the DPP for legal advice and adjourned the case till April 10, 2025, for further mention.
