The Imo State Police Command has arrested a couple, Monday Atodo and his wife, Ezekwere Ngozi, for the kidnapping of a four-year-old boy from Kogi State.
This is even as they have arrested the proprietor of St. Theresa’s Orphanage at Apo Street, Lokogoma, 56-year-old Ogochukwu Chikwelu, a female from Nimo, Anambra State, as the mastermind behind the child trafficking syndicate.
The spokesperson for the Imo State Police Command, Henry Okoye, said the duo were arrested while on transit on August 12, 2025, along the Owerri–Port Harcourt Road with baby Isaiah, whom they claimed was their biological child.
According to Okoye, 46-year-old Ezekwere Ngozi, ‘F’, of Udi LGA, Enugu State, resident in Abuja, and her husband, 43-year-old Monday Atodo, ‘M’, of Ofu LGA, Kogi State, resident in Kogi State, were on their way to deliver Isaiah to the person who bought him.
It was during investigations that the police discovered that 56-year-old Ogochukwu Chikwelu, ‘F’, of Nimo, Anambra State, and resident in Abuja, who operates St. Theresa’s Orphanage at Apo Street, Lokogoma, was the mastermind behind the syndicate.
Okoye said, “On August 12, 2025, operatives of the command, while on a routine stop-and-search along the Owerri–Port Harcourt Road, intercepted a couple identified as 46-year-old Ezekwere Ngozi, ‘F’, of Udi LGA, Enugu State, resident in Abuja, and her husband 43-year-old Monday Atodo ‘M’ of Ofu LGA, Kogi State, resident in Kogi State.
They were found with a four-year-old boy, Isaiah (surname unknown), whom they falsely claimed was their biological child.
“An interrogation revealed that the child was stolen in Kogi State by one Blessing Ogwo and handed over in Abuja to Ngozi, whose role was to deliver trafficked children to buyers. Further investigation uncovered the syndicate’s mastermind, 56-year-old Ogochukwu Chikwelu .‘f’, of Nimo, Anambra State, and resident in Abuja, who operates St. Theresa’s Orphanage at Apo Street, Lokogoma. She was tracked, arrested in Abuja through a joint operation with the State CID, and transferred to Owerri for further investigation and prosecution”, Okoye said.
He assured the public that baby Isaiah was safe and that efforts were ongoing to reunite him with his biological parents, adding that efforts were ongoing to nab other fleeing members of the syndicate.
In another development, the Imo State Police Command has arrested 29-year-old Precious Okoh from Enugu State after a child was stolen from Bayelsa State and trafficked to Owerri, where she was sold.
Okoye said operatives on July 16, 2025, acting on credible intelligence, arrested Precious Okoh, who hails from Nkanu-East Local Government Area of Enugu State, at the Umuguma Housing Area in the Owerri West council.
He said, “On July 16, 2025, operatives of the command, acting on credible intelligence, arrested one Precious Okoh, 29, of Nkanu-East LGA, Enugu State, at the Umuguma Housing Area, Owerri, with a nine-year-old girl, Promise Christopher. She confessed that the child was stolen from Igbogene, Bayelsa State, and brought to Owerri for sale. The operatives traced the parents to Bayelsa, and the child has since been reunited with her parent.”
Already, the Imo State Commissioner of Police, Aboki Danjuma, has commended the operatives for their professionalism and reaffirmed the command’s commitment to eradicating child trafficking.
Furthermore, he called on the public to stay vigilant, provide useful information, and partner with the Police in protecting children and other vulnerable persons.
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