A 49-year-old man, Gabriel Ajor, has been arraigned before a Lokoja Chief Magistrate Court for allegedly abducting and selling seven children for N400, 000.
The seven children allegedly sold by the man, who is also a farmer include his two sons and an eight-month boy.
He was however charged with criminal conspiracy and kidnapping contrary to sections 97(1) of the Penal Code and Section 4(1) and punishable under section 4(3)(a) of Kogi State Kidnapping and other Related Offences (Prohibition) Law 2015.
The prosecuting Police Officer, Cornet Ayabatu, told the chief magistrate court II in Lokoja, the Kogi State capital that the accused person abducted the children under the pretext that he was sending them to schools in Owerri, Imo state and United States of America (USA).
According to the charge, the accused was said to have tricked Kenneth Omale and John Attah, parents of five of the children into believing that the children would be sent to school.
The accused, who hails from Nwajala in Ibaji Local Government area of Kogi State, had between March and June 2016, criminally conspired with others now at large to commit the offence, said to be against the provisions of the constitution of Nigeria.
Ayabatu gave the identity of the children as Goodway Kenneth, 5; Kindness Kenneth, 3; Shedrack John, 6; Goodday John, 6; Confidence Ojonuba, 8 months old; Gift Gabriel, 6 and Destiny Gabriel, 3, all male, were allegedly taken to undisclosed destination that could not be traced.
Ayabatu told the court that the police investigation led to the arrest of the suspect, who later confessed to have collected N400, 000 for the seven children by one Malik in Owerri, Imo State.
Prosecution however applied for adjournment of the case to enable police to finalise its investigation into the matter.
In his ruling, the Chief Magistrate, Alhassan Husaini, said based on the nature of the allegations he was ready to put on hold all ancillary applications connected to the case till the next adjourned date.
He therefore ordered that the accused be remanded at the state CID detention facility in Lokoja and adjourned to August 24 for further mention.
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