more than 100 days ago, the parents of two toddlers have been in misery and
agony since June 30, 2014, when their children failed to return from school.
The two little children, three-year-old Chisom Nweke and her sibling,
Somtochukwu who is 18 months, have not been seen for almost 35 days. Until they
were declared missing, the toddlers were pupils of Master’s Vessel Academy, a
private school in Obeozalla Nkanu West Local Government Area, Enugu State.
SunNews reports that the heart-rending tale about the missing kids began when the
proprietress of the school, Mrs Dorothy Okafor, had to undertake an assignment
outside the school and handed over to her deputy, 35-year-old Uchechukwu Onah,
to take charge of the school. Not long after Okafor left,
Onah allegedly dismissed the pupils at noon instead of the
normal 4.00pm closing time of school.
Hell broke loose when the father of the children came at the usual time to pick
them up and discovered to her horror that the toddlers could not be found.
The Enugu State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Mohammed Adamu told Sunday Sun that
the mother of the children then alerted the proprietress of the school, who
immediately summoned all the teachers to gather, but Onah herself could not be
found.
A report was made to the State Criminal Investigation Department and Anti-Human
Trafficking Unit of the Enugu State Police Command.
Explaining what followed, Adamu said:
the State Criminal Investigation Department, Enugu, where we screened them.
They were all released later. When we called Onah she told us that she was sick
and we started looking for her until July 3, 2014 when policemen in Agbani,
Nkanu West LGA arrested her.”
Telling her own side of the story, the proprietress of the school, Okafor said:
parents in my school were missing. I was away from the school on assignment.
Before leaving I handed over the school to my deputy. Immediately I left she
dismissed the pupils around 12.00pm instead of 4.00pm. So when I heard that two
pupils were missing, I had to call all the teachers.
State CID came and arrested all the teachers, took them away screened everybody
and later released them. But I couldn’t find Onah and I was worried. We started
looking for her. She called me and said she was sick. She said she couldn’t
come out and see me. Four days after the children were missing she still
refused to come out. So policemen in Agbani, Nkanu West went and arrested her.”
As would be expected, the father of the missing children is distraught and
agonizing over the whereabouts of the toddlers. He said:
school to pick them around 4.00pm. But on that day we came we learnt that the
school had closed around 12.00 pm. I was worried and we started looking for my
two children. The teachers that were present in the school also assisted us but
we were unable to locate my children.”
While acknowledging that she was on duty on the fateful day, the prime suspect
in the case, Onah, said she stayed back in the school after all the pupils were
dismissed to go home.
Her words:
a certain parent didn’t see his children. The daughter of the school
proprietress told me that one of the primary pupils took them home. When they
called me I told the proprietress that I was sick. I was at home when the
police came and arrested me.”
The big question that the Enugu State Police Command is trying to provide an
answer to is simply this: where are Chisom and Somtochukwu? To help them give
an answer that will take away the pain of the parents and restore their joy.
Adamu has implored members of the public to come forward with any useful
information that can lead to recovery of the children. Meanwhile, the Nweke
family is thinning away in deep agony.
