Nigeria: Gunmen Kidnap Two-Year-Old Girl in Akwa Ibom

Uyo — Three unidentified gunmen on Wednesday abducted a two-year old girl, little Miss Patience Essiet, in Ukat, Nsit Ubium Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State.

Narrating the ugly experience, the mother of the abducted girl, Ms. Affiong Tommy said the gunmen, who also brandished machetes, broke into her apartment through the back door at about 4am on Wednesday and made away with her daughter.

She explained that the hoodlums first broke into her brother's room, kicked him on the leg and commanded him to lie still, adding that they even threatened to kill him if he tried to raise any alarm or move away from the scene.

The gunmen, she further explained, left her brother's room and moved straight into her room, where she and her daughter were sleeping and despite their plain clothes, claimed to be police officers who had been sent by their Divisional Police Officer (DPO) to conduct a drug search in their house.

In her words "we heard when they hit our backdoor open with axe. They were three, brandishing guns, machetes and axes. They first entered my brother's room, we though they were thieves. They beat him and asked him to lie still as they threatened to shoot him if he tried to move away from the room or shout.

"Two of them came into our room and immediately they saw my baby, they grabbed her. I tried to struggle with them to rescue my baby from their grips, and when they noticed that they were not having it easy with me, they slammed my back and that of my mother with machetes. They also pointed guns at our foreheads as we fell on the floor. I saw my baby being taken away in front of me.

"None of us were able to chase them after they had left with my baby. We were not able to go out to identify what vehicle they came with; besides the darkness, my brother, mother and I were on the floor trying to regain consciousness from the beatings.

"They claimed to be police officers, why did they force our backdoor open at the ungodly hour of 4am? Where have they gone with my child? Let them not kill my child-o!" she cried out.

Tommy however said that the gunmen did not take anything from the house apart from her baby.

When contacted, the Police Public Relations Officer, Akwa Ibom State Command, Mr. Etim Dickson confirmed the incident and assured that the police is making efforts to rescue the child.

"It is true. We are making efforts to rescue her", he assured.