The police in Edo State have paraded the owner of God’s Orphanage Home, in Benin over the theft of Elo Ogidi, the four-year-old allegedly stolen from the headquarters of Christ Embassy church in Lagos.
Blessing Imarhiagbe is accused of complicity in the theft of the girl for which an online campaign was launched by some Nigerian celebrities.
Elo was taken from the Lagos megachurch on Sunday, July 8 and taken to the orphanage located along Siluko Road, in Benin where she was found on Friday, August 24.
Speaking to journalists while parading Mrs. Imarhiagbe, Edo State Police Commissioner, Babatunde Kokumo, described the activity of the suspect as unwholesome, adding that the stolen girl was “found at the orphanage under questionable circumstances.”
Imarhiagbe, however, said the girl was brought to her orphanage by a man she identified simply as Emeka, who allegedly claimed to be the father of the child, adding that he had lost the mother.
The suspect claimed that since she did not suspect any foul play, she did not bother to probe the true identity of the girl, especially when Emeka was visiting her orphanage home every week.
She, however, said she was surprised to have received a phone call while she was attending a church programme in Sapele, Delta State that the police were looking for her in connection with a child allegedly stolen in Lagos.
She said on arriving Benin, she surrendered herself to the police and that since her arrest all efforts to reach Emeka had not been unsuccessful as he has since switched off his phone.
