By Cheta Enyoghasi
The family of Mr Okechukwu Ani, Onungeneoma Ugbuawka in Enugu State’s Nkanu East Local Government Area, has petitioned the Inspector General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, accusing the police of hiding several individuals allegedly involved in child trafficking.
In a plea dated August 5, 2024, written to the Inspector General of Police by their lawyer, Samuel Abazie, the family accused the Enugu State Police Command of releasing defendants allegedly involved in their child’s abduction and selling.
The petition read,
“It is the case of our client that his son, Master Godwin Ani, was kidnapped by Mr. Peter Chiadikaobi Igiri, who is currently awaiting trial at the Enugu Custodial Centre of the Nigeria Correctional Services (the prisons).
”During investigations, Mr. Peter Chiadikaobi Igiri confessed that he soId Master Godwin Ani to Mrs. Caroline C. Ani who in turn sold the child to an unknown person.
“According to our client, Mrs. Caroline C. Ani was released on bail upon arraignment mainly because there was no evidence linking her to the crime since she denied not to have any dealings with Mr. Peter Chiadikaobi Igiri who is linking her to the crime and also because of how highly connected she is.
“However, during the course of interrogations, it was discovered that Mr. Peter Chiadikaobi Igiri has maintained a business relationship as a kidnapping and child trafficking syndicate with Mrs. Caroline C. Ani, who together have successively sold countless children.
“After the release of Mrs. Caroline C. Ani on bail, investigations revealed that Mr. Chiadikaobi Igiri, within the same time he kidnapped and sold Master Godwin Ani, also dispossessed his own wife of their three Children (Two female and one male) and sold them together with Master Godwin Ani to Mrs, Caroline Ani who in conjunction with Mrs. Chinelo Nwosu who resides and works at the University Teaching Hospital Port Harcourt and Mrs. Ebere Ani, as it is usual with their business, sold the children to yet-to-be-identified traffickers.
“Further during investigations, it was discovered that one Mrs. Chibuzo Iheoma Okereke, who is a nurse at the Nursing Unit of the University Teaching Hospital Port Harcourt, paid the sum of N850,000 (Eight hundred and fifty thousand) naira only, to the account of Mrs. Caroline Ani as payment for selling the youngest baby (3 months) of the kidnapped children to her. The said money was discovered in the statement of account of Mrs. Caroline C. Ani which is with the Police.
“The said 3 months baby, whose name is Chimsidili Igiri the last born of Peter Igiri,was recovered from Mrs. Chibuzo Iheoma Okereke at University Teaching Hospital Port Harcourt, and the latter has confessed to buying the child from Mrs. Caraline Ani. She (Chibuzo Iheoma Okereke) was also arrested with Mrs. Chinelo Nwosu, the daughter of Mrs. Caroline Ani and who acts as liaison between Mrs.Caroline and her prospective buyers from Port Harcourt,” he alleged.
The lawyer further informed the IGP that the Enugu State police “refused to re-arrest Mrs. Caroline C. Ani, and Mrs. Ebere Ani, her daughter-in-law, who was identified by Mrs. Chibuzo Iheoma Okereke to have transported the kidnapped children, including the son.
He explained that it would be against public policy and may engender public displeasure if Mrs. Caroline C. Ani and Mrs. Ebere Ani were to escape punishment.
The family urged the IGP to order the immediate re-arrest of the suspects based on the new evidence against them in the record and knowledge of the police.
