Gombe Parents Bicker With Govt, Demand Trafficked Children Home

The Gombe State Government and some parents who lost their children to human traffickers are in a squabble over the alleged failure by the government to return their children reportedly found in Anambra State.

The parents under the auspices of the Amalgamated Association of Parents (AAP), accused the government of failing to retrieve their children trafficked to Anambra State.

However, the government has blamed the parents for not following the right channel of communication and protocol that would enable it (the government) to retrieve the children and bring them back to Gombe.

Not satisfied with the government position, the parents met at the private residence of Governor Muhammadu Inuwa Yahaya, to press their demand for the retrieval of the children who were trafficked to Anambra State about six years ago.

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According to them, over 20 children were recorded missing between 2017 and 2020, out of which only eight were recovered and reunited with their parents.

On his part, Ibrahim Ardo, Secretary of the Amalgamated Association of Parents who lost children to human traffickers, said his daughter was abducted by a syndicate of traffickers, who stole children and sold them in Anambra State.

According to Ardo, he sponsored himself to Anambra and claimed his daughter, but there are 13 other children still living with people who bought them from the traffickers.

However, the state Commissioner of Women Affairs, Mrs Naomi JJ Awak, stated that the parents are yet to follow the appropriate channel that would allow the government to intervene and bring back the children.

According to her, the ministry is yet to get official communication from the police, “which is the proper channel of communication before the government could take any further action.

The police said it launched the raid following information scooped from one Hauwa Usman from Gombe and one Faith Okpai from Anambra who were in detention at the Gombe prison following their arrest in November 2019, in connection with two children abducted from Gombe and sold in Anambra.

Hauwa and Faith operated from Gombe where they stole children mostly below two years and transported them to Onitsha from where they handed them over to Shaukani who later sold them to Nkechi.