By Ngozi Nwankwo
The National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) has dismissed allegations by the Hope Orphanage Home in Delta State that its operatives abducted children during a recent operation, insisting that it was a lawful rescue mission.
The controversy followed a June 2025 operation in Asaba, where eight children allegedly stolen from Kano State were recovered.
The Director-General of NAPTIP, Mrs. Binta Adamu Bello, while briefing journalists in Abuja on Friday, stressed that the Agency does not engage in abduction but acts strictly within the Trafficking in Persons (Prohibition) Enforcement and Administration Act, 2015.
“The rescue operation at Happy Home Orphanage was not an abduction. NAPTIP does not and will never engage in such condemnable practices. It was a lawful intervention to protect children and enforce the law,” Bello said.
According to Bello, the matter began in December 2022 when the Protection Against Abduction and Missing Children (PATAMOC), led by Comrade Ismail Ibrahim Mohammed, petitioned NAPTIP over a case of child abduction in Kano.
He explained that based on that petition, the Kano Zonal Command was directed to commence intelligence gathering on the issues contained therein.
He said in the course of their activities, they received an intelligence that one Hauwa Abubakar, a resident of Gombe State was arrested by the Police for being in possession of some stolen children from various locations within Gombe State.
On further investigation, she admitted to selling 21 other children to one Nkechi Odlyne who in turn allegedly sold seven of the said children to one Christopher Ogugua Nwoye, (Proprietor of Happy Home Children Orphanage, Asaba, Delta State) at the sum of N450, 000 each.
Explaining further, she said the Christopher Ogugua was subsequently arrested in Gombe State, and upon interrogation, he admitted the crime and subsequently returned four children.
“Christopher Ogugua Nwoye, Hauwa Abubakar and Nkechi Odlyne are currently undergoing prosecution at the High Court 1 Gombe State. While the 2 women are in prison custody, Mr. Nwoye perfected his bail and attending court sessions in Gombe,” she said.
“Permit me to state that out of the 4 children returned, 3 were identified by their biological parents as indigenes of Gombe State. Photos of the remaining child were forwarded to the National Chairman, Protection Against The Abduction, Missing Of Children In Nigeria, who subsequently circulated the child’s photos on the Association’s WhatsApp platform for identification. Following this, a woman in Kano who is a member of the Association by virtue of her missing child identified the child as her missing child, Aisha Buhari. Before she could identify the child, she had already been returned to the Happy Home orphanage in Asaba where she was brought from.
“This situation was therefore, reported to NAPTIP which was already supporting the Kano State Government in searching for the over 600 of its missing Children as a member of the Commission of Inquiry Into the cases of Missing Children in Kano State from year 2010-2019, as well as a member of the Implementation Committee on the Report of the Commission of Inquiry into cases of Missing Children in Kano State.
“Based on this new report and the need to rescue Aisha Buhari from the Happy Home Orphanage in Delta state, the Agency on 12th June 2025 dispatched some of its operatives from the Abuja Headquarters and the Kano Zonal Command to Asaba, the Delta State Capital to rescue the girl. The NAPTIP team was accompanied on this mission by the Kano State Chairman of Parents of missing children in the state under the umbrella of PROTECTION AGAINST THE ABDUCTION AND MISSING CHILDREN (PATAMOC) who could identify Aisha and also was in possession of pictures on several missing children from Kano.
“For a hitch free operation, and in line with the Agency’s procedures, a letter was submitted to the office of the Delta State Commissioner of Police same day requesting support to the operatives to carry out the operations. In a signal of 13th July, the Deputy Commissioner of Police who acted on the letter sent a signal to the Area Commander, Asaba as well as the Divisional Police Officer, B’ Division directing them to give the NAPTIP team the needed support for the operation which took place on 15th June 2025. The team was therefore, accompanied to the Happy Home Orphanage by armed Police Officers from the B’ Division. After the operations, the team reported back to the Police Division before leaving the State.
“At the Orphanage home, the Proprietor was away and the wife could not reach him. Subsequently, a profiling of the over 70 children found there was done and the Chairman of the Association of Missing Children was able to identify Aisha and 7 others whom he had their photographs. As the endless wait for the return of the Proprietor could not continue, the telephone number of the leader of the team was left behind for the Proprietor to call as soon as he arrives from wherever he was. No arrest was made there as the wife was the only adult available at the time and taken her away would cause problems within the facility as a result of the large number of children there including toddlers.
“All attempts made to get the Proprietor to make himself available for interview have failed and all he has done is to engage in blackmail against the Agency and organizing women to lay claims to the children who are now in the Agency’s Shelter. The children were initially kept in an open shelter of the Kano State Ministry of Women Affairs but when we saw the need to better protect them based on claims from women in Kano who have identified each of the children to be theirs and counter claims from other women in Delta State, we had to move them to a more protected shelter owned and run by the Agency while investigation continues,” the NAPTIP boss explained.
The DG, however, assured that the Agency will not hand over any of the children to any of the claimants until investigations which includes a DNA are concluded.
She called on those laying claims on the children to make themselves available to the Agency for further investigations.
“Running around on social media and dragging the Agency through blackmail will not help anyone. We are not for or against anyone making claims over the children now, but they should make themselves available for better investigation. NAPTIP is a law abiding Agency that believes in the Rule of Law in its activities. However, we will also not spear anyone found culpable in this matter,” she said.
She also called on the Delta State Government to carry out a thorough investigation on the activities of the Happy Home Orphanage to unravel the unwholesome practices going on there as also admitted by the Commissioner for Women Affairs of the State.
