By Nkasi Kolie
Three children; two males and a female have been kidnapped in Abakaliki, Ebonyi State capital.
The incident occurred at the weekend,opposite Nkwagu Military Cantonment, Nkwagu Village, Abakaliki Local Government of the state.
The kidnapped children belonged to two separate mothers; Happiness Ofunna Gladys and Nworie Oluchi.
The suspects in the night of the previous day came to their compound, had some discussions with their landlord and thereafter spent the night in one of the empty rooms in the compound before kidnapping the children.
According to Happiness Gladys Ofunna who narrated the incident ,said,” I went to the market in the early hours of that day to buy some goods for my business. On getting to where I went to buy my goods, I got a distress call that two of my children have been stolen. I immediately rushed back to the compound and saw people in clusters discussing.
“From the information available and the story that the neighbours narrated to me, the three women that stole my children, a boy and a girl were the same women who spent the night in our compound the previous day. My two children they took are between the ages of one and two .
“I am still confused how people could simply come into an environment just to steal children.
” Nobody suspected anything and that’s why I am still shocked over what happened. I want to appeal to the security agencies to ensure that the women are apprehended to serve as a deterrent to others.”
On her part, Nworie Oluchi said the suspects came to the compound in the evening,”When I returned from the market on that 6th, to prepare evening food, I saw the women sitting outside close to the compound with our landlord discussing. I went inside and started cooking with suspecting anything.
“In the morning when I woke up, I decided to wash some clothes. After a while, I started looking for that my son they stole to administer to him his drugs. When I called him and didn’t get any response, I asked the other siblings his whereabout and they told me, that one of the women asked him to buy biscuits for the other children.
“I rushed to where the women were sitting and asked after my son, one of them told me that they sent him to buy biscuits and immediately volunteered to go and bring him back. I went into my house to change my clothes so as to go and bring my boy back, before I could come out, the children in the compound raised the alarm that the women had entered a tricycle and zoomed off with the three kids.
“I now raised the alarm,but unfortunately, before people could come out, they could no longer be traced. That’s how my 2- year -old boy was stolen in our compound.
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Ebonyi State Police Public Relations Officer(PPR SP Joshua Ukandu said the three children were stolen from their house at the Nkwagu village by some women who visited the compound on the February 6, 2026.
Ukandu said that the matter has been reported to the Central Police Station( CPS )Abakaliki by the victims parents, adding that the matter is being investigated by the police to unravel the circumstances behind the unfortunate incident.
He noted that the State Commissioner of Police had during a recent meeting with the landlords Association in Abakaliki had directed the association to always ensure the identity of those they are giving out their houses to and ensure that they also present guarantors before they are giving houses.
It was gathered that the incident which occured at about 7:30am of February 7, 2026, threw the area into panic and tension and attracted sympathisers as many women and men gathered in clusters discussing the unfortunate incident.
Some of the sympathisers who spoke to journalists described the incident as unfortunate,heartbreaking and maintained that the issue of child theft is becoming a regular occurrence in Ebonyi State.
They called on the State Government and other relevant authorities to educate parents, especially mothers on the need not to allow their children to be seen or hanging around with strangers as that has always resulted in lots of cases of missing children and child theft.
