A44-years-old Reverend Sister Chime Geraldine has been arrested by
operatives of the Inspector General of Police Special Intelligence
Response Team, IRT, for allegedly trafficking two young boys who were
kidnapped between January and April 2017.
The two kidnap suspects, Rev Sister Chime Geraldine and Mrs Obie Okoro with their victim
Saturday Vanguard gathered that the Revered Sister, who was attached to
the Catholic Archdiocese of Abuja and operated an orphanage home known
as Oblek Foundation Orphanage Home, at Gwagalada Abuja, was arrested
alongside her 35-years-old accomplice, Obie Okoro, who was said to be a
member of a kidnap syndicate and supplied the kidnapped young boys to
the Reverend sister.
Sources disclosed that the IRT, led by ACP Abba Kyari, delved into the
matter when it received an intelligence report about the syndicate which
specialized in kidnapping children from churches across the South
Eastern Part of the country and would then sell them to the Reverend
sister for N500,000, who would in turn resell them to people who were in
need of children.
Following the information, Saturday Vanguard gathered that Okoro was
trailed to Lagos by the IRT operatives, where she was arrested and
interrogated. She was said to have confessed that she sold two young
boys who were between the ages of 6 and 7 years to the Revered sister,
and that the children were kidnapped from their churches in Norkwa and
Nnewi area of Anambra State by the son of their pastor identified as
Nnana.
Following her confessions, the operatives took Okoro to the Gwagalada
home of the Revered sister where one of the kidnapped young boys,
Daberechi Ameke, was rescued while the sister was arrested. She also led
the operatives to Monkey Village area of Lagos, where the other boy,
Chinnonso Eze was rescued.
Parents of the victims, James Eze and Veronica Ameke, told Vanguard that
they were members of the Assembly of God Church in Anambra State and
their children were kidnapped by their pastor’s son.
Ameke told Vanguard that her 6-year-old son was kidnapped on April 28,
2017, during a vigil at the Nokwa branch of the Church while Eze said
his 7-year-old son was kidnapped on January 9, 2017.
According to Ameke:
“I took Daberechi to a vigil in my church, the Assembly of God Church,
at Nnokwa in Idemili Local Government. I started looking for him around 8
pm before the commencement of the vigil but we didn’t see him. We also
went to Nnobi police station to report the incident We searched for him
everywhere but could not find him and we kept on praying. I have five
children, Deberechi was my last child.
Then, on September 29, 2017, the police in Awka arrested some people who
specialized in kidnapping children and when they were interrogated they
confessed and they identified the son of my pastor known as Nnana as
their leader. He escaped after his gang members were apprehended while
the police went after his father.
Happily, I received a call from one of my church members that Deberechi
had been found by the police in Abuja and I came to receive him from the
police. My son told me that it was the pastor’s son who took him out
from the church and handed him over to someone who he didn’t know who
then brought him to Abuja.”
Meanwhile, when Vanguard interviewed Reverend Sister Geraldine and her
accomplice, she denied knowing that the young boys who were bought to
her were kidnapped. She explained that the woman who brought the boys
deceived her that the children had no parent and they were from an
orphanage home in the South East and that the money she paid for them
was the amount demanded by the operator of that orphanage.