How Police Allegedly Frustrated Poor Family Whose 6-Year Old Pupil Got Missing From Ejigbo School

MICHAEL AKINOLA

This is not the best of times for the family of Mr. Michael Ogbu and his wife, Onyinyechi, over their nasty experience from the Nigerian Police and the school management since their 6-year old daughter, Mercy Tochi, disappeared from Ejigbo Modern Nursery and Primary school on 2nd April,2025. 

The family, which resides at No. 8 Thomas Ake, Iyana Ejigbo, behind UBA, has had no peace since the ugly incident happened as the little money they had has been exhausted yet they have not seen the little girl.

P.M.EXPRESS reports that the little Mercy got missing after one of the teachers gave her N50 to buy biscuit in the school premises. Since that day,  the parents have to set their eyes on the girl, who was in KG2.

Their woes was compounded following the dribbling they are said to receiving from the Nigeria Police and the management of the school because they are poor.

The worst of their trauma was that the Police arranged and gave the man’s wife,  Onyinyechi, the sum of N150,000 as a form of compensation to start a business so that she will forget the little girl thereby inflicting more pains in the family.

Narrating what happened, Mrs. Onyinyechi explained that the little Mercy went to the school with her two other siblings on that day. Before she got to the school to take them home, she received a call from their neighbour that Mercy was missing.

She went to the school and did not see her but only saw her school bag. She quickly contacted her husband, Mr. Michael and informed him that Mercy was missing from the school premises despite the fact that security guards were in place.

The husband asked her to go to Ejigbo Police station and report the matter, which she did and the Police asked her to wait till 24 hours before they will incident the matter. So she went and started searching for her daughter on the streets and other areas to no avail.

She said, “On the next day, I went back to the Ejigbo Police station and they collected some money to register the matter and another money for recharge cards to give signals to the State Command as they claimed”.

“Later, the DPO directed that the security man on the duty and the school teacher should be brought and they were detained briefly but released on bail to go home.”

Mrs. Onyinyechi narrated that while she was at the Police station, she received a call from an unknown number who introduced herself as a child trafficker and informed her that they were with Mercy and she was disturbing them with her cries and that she should send N1m so that they can drop her at the agreed location. Meanwhile, because of constant cries they gave her sleeping tablets and if she cooperates, they will dump her where she will find her that night.

She narrated, “I pleaded with them and they agreed to collect N150,000. And on the advice of the Police in order not to risk the girl, my husband paid the money into the UBA account number provided by the unknown caller, who received the money and thereafter blocked the number”.

She narrated that the UBA account number was printed and given to Police and yet the Police at Ejigbo Division did not do anything. They rather directed the family to the Tracking Unit at Surulere, which demanded N250,000 for them to track the number and the family had no money to pay them.

The DPO later invited the school teacher and the security guard and transferred the matter to the State Criminal Investigation Department, Yaba, for further investigation. The suspects spent three days before they were released on bail.

However, the family received the greatest shock at SCID Yaba when they got back to find out their outcome of their investigation. The Police Investigation Officer alleged that they had information that it might be her former husband that may had carried the girl whereas she had no other husband and had no child before she got married to her husband, Michael.

She lamented that the Police at SCID has discharged them, the Police at Tracking Unit also discharged them because they had no money to pay for tracking while the Police at Ejigbo Division gave her N150,000 as compensation so that she can actually forget about the girl. The  teacher that gave the little girl N50 cursed them and blocked their numbers boasting that nothing will happen and they were wasting their time searching for the girl.

The family is calling on the Inspector General of Police, the Lagos State Commissioner of Police to come to their aid and help find their daughter because they have evidence where they paid the money in the bank.