“I have been hoping to see my son again. For almost eight years now, I have been hoping, believing that just like other lucky parents of missing children, I would be reunited with my child. My wife and I have been on the move to find our child since 2016 but to no avail,” said a father of one of the missing Kano children.
It would be recalled that the issue of some missing children in Kano State became the centre of discussions for years as certain areas in the state’s metropolis became hubs for child trafficking. It was discovered that communities like Wurobagga, Walalanbe, Haye, Tinshama and Hotoro North were areas bedevilled with incidents of missing children. The issue became so pronounced when over 40 children, all of less than three years old, were reported missing within three months.
It was learnt that when the cases of missing children became rampant, parents of the missing children were forced to form an association, Protection against the Abduction, Missing of Our Children (PATAMOOC), to put an end to the menace, as well as break what seemed to be syndicated gangs of child traffickers.
Malam Mansur Isa, the father of Yusuf Mansur, a three-year-old boy who was taken away on May 28, 2016, said the association was initiated by late Malam Isa Hassan Alasan whose daughter, Hauwa’u Isah (21 months old) was taken from his Walalanbe residence in Hotoro North in Nassarawa LGA on July 1, 2016.
Malam Mansur, who is the Vice Chairman of PATAMOOC, said that the association had documented over 300 missing children from 2016 to date, adding that with assistance from the state government, some children were recovered and some people connected to the abductions were arrested.
He explained that it dawned on the parents that they were fighting an institutionalised child trafficking syndicate that probably was more powerful than the association, but that the association had done everything possible and was following the matter to see that the children abducted were being recovered.
He further said, “We thought that these abductors were abducting the children for ritual, but we came to understand that our children are being traded like commodities and that was why we said to ourselves, ‘We will fight the trend and if possible put a stop to the process and recover our children.’ We have run to all places that we believe will render assistance to us in curtailing this evil trend, but it was like everyone was engrossed in his own separate issues. We have developed an album of the majority of the missing children as part of our advocacy tools. We have a comprehensive list of affected parents, and from our records we have more than 300 missing children from 2016 to date.”
“Every day we wake up with the hope that we will see our missing children, and this alone has been a trauma we have been living with over the years. It is better to know that your child is dead and buried, perhaps you would have a rest of mind, because every soul will taste death, but the feeling that your child may be alive somewhere with someone else is enough psychological trauma.”
A woman whose two children were abducted, Malama Rabiatu Abdullahi Hotoro Ramin Kwalabe, said one of her two missing children was recovered in Anambra State while the other one was still missing.
Malama Rabiatu said, “They abduct our children from here and take them to the East to sell. Two of my children were abducted, and to God be the glory, one was found in Anambra after he was sold to a family but the other one is still missing. We are praying and fasting for our children wherever they are. We know they are still alive being held by some people.”
It was learnt in the course PATAMOOC’s struggle, a woman suspected to have a hand in the missing children saga was arrested in the area and handed over to the police, and that after the arrest of the woman, cases of child abduction reduced drastically.
In 2019, six abducted children were recovered and reunited with their parents, and after the development, the Kano State Government constituted a committee of enquiry under Justice Wada Abubakar Rano. The committee submitted its report to the government in February, 2020. Similarly, in July, 2020, the state government inaugurated a committee that would implement the findings of the first committee.
The Chairman of PATAMOOC, Comrade Ismail Ibrahim Muhammad, explained that his association had gone to several states trying to locate the abducted children with assistance from the state government, noting that 18 children were discovered in Anambra.
He further said that the association, in collaboration with the police, discovered seven abducted children in Bauchi State and that nine suspects were arrested.
The spokesman of the Kano State Police Command, SP Abdullahi Haruna Kiyawa, said that the parents of six out of the seven recovered children from the child trafficker’s den have been reunited with their parents, noting that one of the recovered children was still unidentified because he was abducted at birth.
SP Kiyawa added that the syndicates were not only terrorising Kano State but other states, stealing, buying and selling of children, assuring that the police would not relent in ensuring that such trend was addressed and the perpetrators faced the wrath of the law.