Badagry kidnap: Controversy trails number of kidnapped children

•They are 39 –Ex-Commissioner    •Only 3 cases reported –Police

Controversies have continued to trail the alleged disappearance of 39 kids in Badagry area of Lagos State as the police in the state insisted that only three cases were reported.

A former commissioner for Rural Development in the state, Cornelius Ojelabi, had last Tuesday cried out that his kidnapped four-year-old grandson, Michael, who was said to have been kidnapped in front of his school by an unidentified woman on January 20, 2016, had not been found since the incident occurred.

Ojelabi, who served as commissioner during the second term of former Governor Babatunde Fashola, lamented over rising insecurity in Ojo and Badagry areas of the state, when he came out to ask a question, during the second Quarterly Town Hall meeting of Governor Akinwunmi Ambode, which took place recently.

Ojelabi said he was shocked on his visit to the police station in Ojo where complaints of the kidnapped three children was lodged to discover that about 35 other people besieged the station to complain that their children were also kidnapped. He said a similar incident of kidnap occurred in the same area last Monday, urging Governor Ambode to urgently intervene in the matter before more children fall victim.

Responding, Governor Ambode said he had not been briefed, but that the government would investigate the matter and ensure that kidnapping was stamped out of the state.

Commissioner of Police, Lagos State, Fatai Owoseni, assured that the police would get to the root of the matter and ensure that kidnapping becomes a thing of the past in Lagos.

The image maker in charge of the state police command, Dolapo  Badmos described the report of 39 missing children as a fallacy.

She stated that one of the three reported cases had been investigated by the police and charged to court while investigations were still on for the other two cases.