A Kano State High Court has ordered the remand of Ogugua Christopher, owner ofa Orphanage Home in Asaba, Delta State, over allegations of child abduction and trafficking involving minors reportedly taken from Kano State to Asaba.
Ogugua is being prosecuted alongside Hauwa Abubakar and Nkechi Odlyne on a 15-count charge of conspiracy and child abduction, said to contravene Sections 97 and 273 of the Kano State Penal Code and Section 32(5) of the Children and Young Persons Law.
According to the prosecution, the defendants allegedly abducted several children between June 2016 and December 2021 and sold them in Delta State.
At Tuesday’s sitting, the prosecution counsel, Salisu Muhammad-Tahir, told the court that two of the accused persons, Abubakar and Odlyne, were not present despite efforts to compel their attendance.
“We have done our best to ensure their presence and sincerely apologise to the court,” Muhammad-Tahir said, urging the judge to adjourn the matter and remand Ogugua in custody pending their appearance.
Defence counsel, Gideon Uzo, appealed to the court to allow his client remain in the custody of the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) instead of being sent to a correctional facility.
However, the presiding judge, Justice Amina Adamu-Aliyu, declined the request and ordered that the accused be kept in a correctional centre. She further directed NAPTIP to produce the two absent defendants at the next court session.
The matter was adjourned until October 27 for continuation of hearing.
