In Sango Ota area of Ogun State, a seven-year-old girl, Mercy Akande, has gone missing after allegedly being abducted by a frequent customer at her mother’s Point of Sale (PoS) shop. The incident occurred on Monday, December 23, 2024, leaving the family and community in shock.
According to family sources, the suspect, a man who regularly visited the shop to withdraw money and buy phone recharge cards, had developed a friendly relationship with the young girl.
He often bought her food and gave her small gifts. On the morning of the incident, the man reportedly bought food for Mercy and later sent her on an errand to buy a sachet of water.
Mercy’s mother, who was busy attending to other customers, saw the man approach her daughter to collect the water but became distracted. Moments later, when she looked again, both Mercy and the man had vanished.
Jude, a relative of the family, explained, “The man had been visiting her store regularly to withdraw money and buy recharge cards. He had become friendly with the girl and would often buy her food and give her money. He doesn’t stay in the area. On Monday morning, which was December 23, the man visited the stall again and bought food for himself and the girl.
“While the mother was busy attending to other customers, the man sent the girl to buy pure water. On her way back, he approached her halfway to get the sachet water from her. The mum saw this and wasn’t comfortable with it but was distracted by the attention of other customers. By the time she turned towards the daughter’s direction to check what was happening, the guy and her daughter were nowhere to be found.”
Efforts to contact the man were futile, as calls to his phone went unanswered, and the line was eventually unreachable. The family reported the matter to the local police station, but progress has been slow. They were asked to pay various fees, including N10,000 to file the case and N30,000 to track the suspect’s phone.
“We have reported to a police station in Sango and the struggling mom has been asked to pay a total of 10k to report the case (she has done that). And to bring N30,000 for the guy’s phone number to be tracked. She’ll be going back there tomorrow to pay.
“As it is now. Work has not even started. She only paid N8000 to write her statement at the station and a total of N2000 to print out pictures of the missing girl. Then to track the phone number, she has to pay the sum of N30,000 and get a court affidavit to take to MTN office,” he wrote.
