A visually impaired mom, Agnes Jackson, 32, has raised the alarm and called on security agencies to help locate her 14-year-old stepdaughter, Joy Forte, who left home at House 9, Lambe Street, Jimoh Bus Stop, Akowonjo, tak- ing along her one year and eight months old baby, Excel Forte. According to Jackson, who has been visually impaired for six years, the incident happened two weeks ago, and nobody has seen both children since then.
She recounted that Joy packed some of the baby’s items and made away with her Automatic Teller Machine Card (ATM) and some cash. Jackson, who has not been herself since the incident, said that she had briefly stepped into the apartment and in less than five minutes, Joy vanished with the younger child. She also said that Joy, who is her step-daughter, has been assisting her in the house because she is partially impaired.
She narrated: “Everything happened on Tuesday this week. I was inside with my child, Excel and my stepdaughter, Joy. Excel was playing and then she opened the door to the passage, Nasir Shuaibu, BAUCHI The Bauchi State Police Command has arrested five suspected miscreants including an 18-year-old girl for criminal conspiracy, armed robbery, receiving stolen property, and causing grievous hurt. In a press release signed by the I told Joy to bring her back inside. But Excel refused and Joy had to leave her alone.
“When Joy told me that Excel refused to be brought back to the apartment, I told her to allow her to be. I however cautioned her not to allow the baby to go to the backyard. I also warned her not to leave the pas- sage, and to keep watch over her sister. “Some minutes later, maybe about five minutes max, I didn’t hear noise, so I decided to check on them. I stopped and shouted both their names and searched everywhere, but I couldn’t find them.
“Other people joined in searching for them, but we still couldn’t find them. We noticed that Joy packed some of my baby’s items like body cream, and clothes, she took my ATM card and the sun of N3500 left in my handbag. “She also took the baby’s towel and my wrapper. The incident happened at about 1:30 PM on that fateful Tuesday and since then we’ve neither seen nor heard from them. Nobody seems to know their whereabouts.”
The Chief Executive Officer of Esther Child Rights Foundation, Mrs Esther Ekwem, who is working with other relevant agencies to help Jackson locate the children, said: “The situation is very sad. I don’t understand why the woman is alone and she’s even pregnant. She cannot see and people can easily take what belongs to her and she wouldn’t know.”
