From: Laide Raheem, Abeokuta
A 28-year-old woman, identified as Anuoluwapo Joshua, has been arrested by men of the Ogun State Police command, for allegedly stealing a three year old baby, Akamaka Patience Francis, at the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG) Camp.
In a statement on Sunday by the Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO) in the state, Abimbola Oyeyemi, the suspect had stolen the child on July 2017 during the monthly Holy Ghost Congress of the church.
Oyeyemi said the mother of the child reported that the child was stolen by an unknown person when she went to pack her children’s clothes in the new auditorium where she had gone for prayers with her husband.
He added that all efforts to know the whereabouts of the child since then proved abortive, until the child was sighted on the 29th of December inside the Youth Center at Redemption Camp during children’s end of the year party.
“On receiving the information, the DPO of Redeemed Division, SP Olaiya Martins, led detectives to the Center where they waited until the end of the programme, when the suspect came out to pick the child and was promptly arrested.
“She has since confessed to the crime. She said she lured the child out of her parents’ sight and took her to Ofada area in Obafemi-Owode local government area of Ogun State, where she has been taking care of the child since then. Investigation further revealed that the suspect had earlier got pregnant for someone in Lagos but travelled to the North where she claimed she had delivered a baby girl. But when she came back from the North, she didn’t come with the baby which made the man who impregnated her to put pressure on her to bring his child to him.
“She later informed her relatives that she was going to Nasarawa State to bring the child, but went to the RCCG Camp where she stayed for some days before succeeding in stealing the child which she presented to her relatives as her daughter”.
Meanwhile, the Ogun State Commissioner of Police, Ahmed Ilyasu, has ordered the immediate transfer of the suspect to the State Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department (SCIID) for further investigation and prosecution.