Family in Oyo Seeks Help to Find Abducted Baby

The family of a six-month-old baby named Faaiz is asking for help to find him after he was allegedly taken from his mother’s room in Oyo State.

This incident happened in the early hours of September 16. Faaiz was sleeping next to his mother, Mrs Asimau Olasunkanmi, in their three-bedroom home in Erunmu, located in the Egbeda Local Government Area of Oyo State.

Mrs Olasunkanmi said she realized her baby was missing when she woke up to breastfeed him before morning prayers. She searched the room and the entire house but could not find him.

In an interview with PUNCH Metro, Olasunkanmi shared her shock. She said, "I wanted to observe the routine by picking up my baby to breastfeed him, only for me to look beside me and he was nowhere to be found. I checked everywhere, but I could not find my baby."

One of her other children, who was sleeping near the window, noticed the damaged net. This led her to check that area.

“I looked in the same direction and discovered the net had been severed, indicating that my baby had been abducted,” she stated.

Olasunkanmi was surprised that the suspected kidnappers could take her baby without leaving other signs of entry into the house.

“There was no sign someone entered the house, aside from the net that was severed. It’s a three-bedroom house, but we sleep in two. It was just me and my three children inside the house. We don’t have fences,” she said.

She is appealing for help, saying the uncertainty of her child’s whereabouts is too much to bear.

“I want help in whatever way; please support me. There’s a Yoruba saying that a dead child is better than a missing child,” she added.

“Now I can’t find the corpse nor my living child.”

The father, Taiwo Isiak, said they reported the incident to the Ogungbade Police Station on the same morning it happened. The case was later moved to the Anti-Kidnapping Squad in Dugbe, Ibadan.

He explained that police officers came to the area to ask residents questions before handing over the case to the anti-kidnapping unit.

Isiak is worried about the lack of updates from the police. He stated the family has been looking for the baby since the incident.

“We’ve been on it since then and today makes it 40 days. We’ve not heard from the police in the past two weeks. The last time we spoke, they said they are still working on it and will give us feedback,” he noted.

A family friend, Akinyode Waliyulah, confirmed they reported the case to the police and other security agencies, including the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps.

Waliyulah mentioned that the window used by the suspected kidnappers had no burglary-proof protection.

“Someone entered the house through the window. They severed the net covering the window, but unfortunately, the window does not have burglary protection, just an aluminium window,” he explained.

He added that the family continues to follow up with the relevant security agencies, hoping they will find the baby.