A Kano State High Court on Tuesday ordered the remand of the owner of Asaba Orphanage Home, Ogugua Christopher, over allegations of kidnapping and trafficking of children taken from Kano to Delta State.
Christopher, a resident of Asaba, is facing trial alongside Hauwa Abubakar and Nkechi Odlyne on a 15-count charge of conspiracy and child abduction, in violation of sections 97 and 273 of the Kano State Penal Code and section 32(5) of the Children and Young Persons Law.
Prosecutors allege that between June 2016 and December 2021, the defendants conspired to abduct several children from Kano and sell them in Delta State.
During Tuesday’s hearing, the prosecution counsel, Salisu Muhammad-Tahir, who is also the Kano State Solicitor-General, informed the court that Abubakar and Odlyne were absent, despite efforts to secure their appearance.
“We have tried our possible best to ensure their presence before this court and sincerely tender our apology,” Muhammad-Tahir told the court, requesting an adjournment and the remand of Christopher in a correctional facility.
Defence counsel Gideon Uzo urged the court to allow his client to remain in the custody of the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) instead.
Presiding Judge Amina Adamu-Aliyu rejected the request and ordered Christopher’s remand in a correctional centre, directing NAPTIP to produce the two other defendants at the next sitting.
The case was adjourned to October 27 for further mention and commencement of trial.
According to Nigeria’s state news agency NAN, the case stems from a December 2022 petition by the Protection Against Abduction and Trafficking of Our Children (PATAMOC) to NAPTIP, alleging the disappearance of more than 600 children from Kano since 2010, of whom eight were later rescued.