A 4-year-old girl, Hope Evans, who was kidnapped from a primary school in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, has been safely recovered by police operatives in Abuja.
The child was reported missing on October 31, 2024, by her mother, Ms. Lydia Jonah Gabriel.
According to the FCT Police Command spokesperson, SP Josephine Adeh, the abduction occurred when a woman, identified as Blessing Okoi, lured the child away from the school premises at around 1:28 pm by offering her biscuits and eggs.
The woman, who was not known to the school staff, left with Hope unnoticed, and the child’s family was unable to locate her later that evening.
Upon realizing that Hope was missing, Ms. Lydia Jonah and other family members visited the school for more information and discovered that the woman was known locally as “Destiny’s mum.”
However, when they visited the woman’s residence, they found that she had vacated the property abruptly the same night.
The family reported the incident to the Trans Amadi police station, and the case was later transferred to the State Criminal Investigation Department (SCID) for further investigation.
The police suspected that the abductor had fled to Abuja, and the victim’s aunt subsequently reported the case to the FCT police command.
Following a thorough investigation, the police tracked the suspect, Blessing Okoi, to Maraba, a suburb of Abuja, where she was arrested on November 29.
Hope Evans was rescued that evening. During questioning, Okoi initially claimed to be the child’s mother, but her statements did not match the information provided by the real mother.
The FCT police then contacted Ms. Lydia Jonah, who traveled to Abuja and was reunited with her daughter on November 6.
The suspect, Blessing Okoi, remains in police custody and is undergoing further interrogation.
