Police probe alleged child trafficking, hunt suspected Edo mum

The Delta State Police Command has embarked on the investigation of a case of alleged child trafficking involving a 15-year-old schoolgirl, Emmanuella Monday, who had cried out for help from a hideout, on escaping from a man whom she alleged her mother contracted her to for prostitution in exchange for money.

In a video sighted by our correspondent, Emmanuella, who claims to be in Senior Secondary School 2 at the Triumphant School, Effurun, in Uvwie Local Government Area of Delta State, had alleged that her mother had contracted her to unnamed men to take sexual advantage of her.

Commenting on the incident on Monday, the Police Public Relations Officer for the Delta State Command, Bright Edafe, told PUNCH Metro that the command had swung into action investigating the matter.

“We (the command) are already investigating the matter.  We haven’t seen the woman yet. We are waiting to hear her side”, the PPRO said.
Our correspondent gathered that the police were not taking the incident for granted as the embattled schoolgirl was currently in protective police custody pending the outcome of the ongoing investigation to unravel the circumstances of the case.

It was further gathered that a woman police Inspector, who was assigned as the Investigating Police Officer, had taken statements from both the girl as well as the human rights activist who reported the case, Comrade Aghogho Ighorhiohwunu, as the complainant.

Emmanuella had specifically alleged that her biological mother took her to meet a man in a hotel on a Sunday and thereafter eloped after dropping her off with the man.
Emmanuella alleged, “My mother has been taking me to men. And last Sunday, after church, she took me to meet a man in a hotel.  She left and said that she was coming back. She did not come back till the evening, and left me there.”
Emmanuella had further told PUNCH Metro that her mother took her to one Beeland Hotel at Orhuworun Road, Udu Local Government Area of Delta State “to meet an Aboki man and said she was coming back, and till it was late, she didn’t return.”

The girl stated that she however “managed to escape from the hotel room, when the Aboki man went to have a bath.”

But she deposed that she consequently became infuriated and refused to go back to the house.

She added, “So, on getting out of the hotel room, I did not go to the house again. I managed to find my way to a friend’s house and stayed with that family overnight. On Monday morning, I went to school and reported the matter to my teacher. And my teacher said she was going to do something about the matter.”

But when contacted on the phone, Emmanuella’s mother, Mrs. Eunice Asulie, told our correspondent that her daughter had been missing from home, adding that she had “been searching for her.”

She said, “My daughter, Emmanuella, has been missing for days and I have been searching for her everywhere and could not find her.  I don’t know her whereabouts. I am looking for her.”
Speaking further, the mother stated that she had reported the matter to the police at the division close to them and the police were also searching for her.