Ebonyi State Police Command Rescues 26 Abducted Children

The Nigerian Police says it has rescued not less than twenty-six abducted children from child traffickers operating in Ebonyi State, who abducted and took them to other states in the country.

Commissioner of Police (CP) in the State, Aliyu Garba disclosed this to newsmen Monday in Abakaliki, the Ebonyi state capital.

He spoke during a four-day dialogue with media practitioners on ethical reporting and advocacy to eliminate violence against women and girls in Cross River and Ebonyi States, organized by spotlight initiative.

The Ebonyi police boss, Garba who spoke through DSP Loveth Okimor Ogbouanya, a gender desk police officer in the State Police Command, lamented that a great number of poor children are abducted by child traffickers and sold to other states of the federation.

“We have recovered a total of twenty children who were sold in other states of the federation but for this year, we recovered six from traffickers.

“Sometimes, I use my own money to pursue the cases. It is worrisome that it is the children of the poor people that are usually affected. In most cases, they are told to withdraw the case from the police and that they will be given money. I will make sure that the matter goes to court.

The CP, further noted that the police command through the gender desk office has been touring local government areas of the state to ensure that all cases involving violence against women and girls as well as child trafficking is totally eliminated in Ebonyi.

“I made sure that I recovered those children, I slept inside the vehicle for four good days moving from local government to other.

“What I’m saying is that it takes only patients to be in that department. When it comes to the cases of rape, you will see that children of the rich are not being raped.

“It is the children of the poor, once and when the case is brought to the police station and because of inferiority complex or because they are financially down, for those people they will come and ask them withdrew the matter from police.

Our Correspondent reports that the event is being attended by media practitioners from both conventional and new media platforms.