A five-year-old boy, Mohammed Naziru, was allegedly abducted by a woman in the Iwaya area of Lagos last Friday, January 12, 2024. The boy, who was returning from a mosque with his eight-year-old sister, became the focus of a community-wide search after disappearing under suspicious circumstances.
According to eyewitnesses, the unidentified woman, dressed in a hijab to blend in with other worshippers, approached the children after their prayers. She reportedly handed the older sibling ₦500 and asked her to buy yoghurt worth ₦150. While the girl went to make the purchase, the woman seized the opportunity to take Naziru and vanish.
The frantic search for the boy yielded no results over the weekend. However, the woman shockingly reappeared in the same community on Monday, January 13, 2024. Naziru’s sister immediately recognized her and raised the alarm. As she tried to flee, a mob apprehended her. The situation escalated, but police officers from the Sabo division arrived just in time to prevent mob justice.
The boy’s distraught father, Alhaji Idris Adamu, recounted the ordeal, “I got a call at about 1 pm last Friday, informing me that my son had been kidnapped. I rushed to the house and found a mob descending on her. I begged them not to kill her because her death won’t bring my son back. I reported the matter to the Sabo Police Division, and they brought a vehicle to convey her to the station. But because of the crowd that besieged the police station, the Police took the woman to SCID.
“I prayed fervently every day for the safety of my son and for the woman to be arrested. Indeed, God heard my prayer. The woman walked into the community, covering herself with the hijab, and was identified. Immediately she sighted my wife, she started running, and when she was caught, she said she wasn’t the one who kidnapped our son without being asked.
“The woman is not mad; she is only pretending. When she was apprehended, we found some pieces of paper in her possession where she wrote an address where they should keep the boy and the injection they should give to him to put him to sleep. She also wrote down many telephone numbers on some sheets of paper found in the multi-coloured purse that was found with her.
“All I want is my son. She should tell us where she kept him so that we can go get him before any harm befalls him”.
Besides, the 40-year-old man also wondered why the woman, who had braids on as at the time of arrest, suddenly loosened them to change her looks to that of someone who had not combed her hair for months.
Despite being in police custody, the suspect has refused to disclose Naziru’s whereabouts. To complicate matters, she has allegedly been pretending to be mentally unstable since her transfer to the State Criminal Investigation Department (SCID).
Adamu believes her madness is a ruse, citing suspicious evidence found on her, including handwritten notes detailing instructions on where to keep the boy and how to sedate him.
The father made a passionate plea to authorities, urging them to intensify efforts to locate his son. “All I want is my son. She should tell us where she kept him so we can bring him home safely,” he said.
Meanwhile, detectives at the SCID are reportedly arranging for a psychiatric evaluation of the suspect. Investigators are working to determine whether her claims of insanity are genuine or a deliberate attempt to avoid justice.
