Life is really difficult for Sojine Anani and his wife, Akuvi, a Togolese couple who came to settle in Nigeria about 10 years ago. This was immediately obvious right from the entrance of the cemented red-brick bungalow they live in on a street in Shasha, Akowonjo area of Lagos.
The Ananis live in a small one-room apartment with their three young children.But between 2am and 4am on Monday, May 26, 2014, night marauders came calling in their home when Akuvi’s husband was away at work in Apapa area of Lagos. Their target was one single thing; the couple’s three-year-old daughter, Blessing.On Sunday (May 25) Sojine left for work in Apapa. By nightfall, his young wife and three children went to sleep, in the same room.But by morning, the girl among the children was missing.Akuvi, a trader in her 20s told Punch I woke up around 2am to plug our rechargeable lamp when electricity came on. Two of my children slept on the bed beside me while Blessing slept on the floor on a mat.I went back to sleep and I remember Blessing was exactly where she was on the floor when we all went to bed in the night. By 4.30am, I woke up because it was my turn to sweep our compound. “The first thing I noticed was that the drawer where I keep my children’s clothes was pulled out and placed on the floor. I put on the light and realised my daughter was gone.I went to the window after I checked the door and what I saw made me scream. I wish I did not come to Nigeria for a better life. My life is finished now, my child is gone.My life is over, I can’t stand this agony. I never knew a child could be stolen while asleep in her own house in the middle of the night. I knew thieves break in to steal money and other valuables, but I never heard of thieves breaking in to steal a child. This is unfair. I don’t even feel safe again. The police are not helping at all. Had I known, I would have stayed back in Togo. I am finished.I am all alone. My husband, who is supposed to be here is suffering in jail. Police are not even telling me anything. Where would I search for my child? I cannot sleep or shut my eyes, all I see is the face of my girl and I cannot stop thinking about what is happening to her. Blessing is still missing and her father is languishing in police custody. All these have compounded Akuvi’s agony. Her relations told our correspondent that they feared for her mental health because she had remained inconsolable since the incident and had started acting sometimes like she is not in her right senses. The police claimed she used an unothordox method to find the person that stole her baby. She was said to have taken the suspect to a seer’s house, an offence responsible for her husband’s detention. My children are suffering because their father has been locked up by the police. He is the breadwinner. Why are the police doing this to us? Why are they making us suffer more?”I am confused, I don’t know what is happening to me. I can’t find my daughter and police has detained my husband in cell,”