- Police demanded #40,000 for tracking
- Seven-year-old Mercy was abducted by her Mother’s customer
- Adejobi Assures Police would find the girl
The Nigeria Police Force has arrested some of its officers in Ogun State for allegedly demanding money to facilitate the tracking of a missing seven-year-old girl, Mercy Akande.
This information was made known by the Force Public Relations Officer (FPRO), ACP Olumuyiwa Adejobi, on Saturday.
Eko Hot Blog had earlier reported that Mercy the daughter of a female Point-of-Sale (PoS) operator, went missing on December 23 after allegedly being taken away by one of her mother’s customers.
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The incident sparked outrage on social media platform X, with users drawing attention to the high corruption rate within the Nigeria Police Force.
According to a tweet by user Miyakee on December 25, the man who allegedly took Mercy is a regular customer of the POS agent, often buying food items and gifting the young girl money.
On Monday morning, he reportedly sent Mercy on an errand to fetch a sachet of water, meeting her halfway and disappearing with her as she returned.
Miyakee stated, “My cousin is missing. She was kidnapped by a stranger on the 23rd of December, 2024.
The mom, my aunty, does POS business at Sango, Ogun State. She has a male customer who usually comes to withdraw money and buy recharge cards.
“He doesn’t stay in the area. He became friends with the little girl and was always buying her food and gifting her money whenever he came to the store.
On the morning of the 23rd, he came to the store and bought food for himself and the little girl as usual.
The mom was busy attending to other customers.
“He sent the little girl (a seven-year-old girl) to go get pure water for him. On her way back, he approached her halfway to get the pure water from her.
The mom 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.
They searched everywhere for them but to no avail.”
Miyakee said the matter was reported at a police station in the Sango area of the state but a police officer allegedly demanded the sum of N40,000 from Akande’s mother to cover the reporting of the case for N10,000 and the suspect’s tracking fee of N30,000.
In an update on Saturday, Adejobi said the Ogun State Police Command has been on the case, assuring that the girl would be found as soon as possible.
“Also, the policemen who demanded money before they could attend to the case have been arrested and kept in detention for disciplinary action.
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“We have condemned such an act, and we won’t tolerate it. It’s inhuman, apathetic, and unprofessional.
“We urge the family of the victim to work with the police on the case,” Adejobi said.
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