How boy kidnapped in Kano was found in Ota — after six years

When Samuel Abdulraheem left home in Kano to ride bicycle on the streets, he did not know that he would return to his birthplace for at least six years. That was in the 90s. The victim was at the age of seven years when that incident occurred.

According to BBC, the last of 17 children from a polygamous home, Abdulraheem was left with his nanny when he went missing.

Abdulraheem, who is now 30 years, was kidnapped and taken to Lagos where he served as a guide to disabled beggars. He recounted how he was taken through a journey by rail. According to him, he was taken to a one-armed woman who hired him out to blind beggars for N500 daily.

“All I remember is the train journey,” he was quoted to have said.

“I am not sure I had emotions then, just a zombie that knew he had to wake up and lead a beggar out. Make money, eat food and sleep, and the same routine the next day.”

HIS FAMILY THOUGHT HE WAS DEAD

While Abdulraheem was tending to beggars in Lagos, his family searched for him till they lost hope and assumed he was dead.

For six years, Abdulraheem guided blind beggars around Lagos and neighboring states. In those years, he added that five other young boys were brought to the woman and were also hired out to beggars. He said he suspected that something was done to or given to him as he did not think of his family while he was in captivity.

“I was like a slave. I couldn’t say I wanted to go and do anything. I had to be around always,” he said.

“I was always hungry. During the daytime when you work, you hardly sit down to eat. I didn’t feel the beggars were bad. They wake up, beg, the way people wake up and go to work.”

HOW ABDULRAHEEM WAS FOUND

His elder sister, identified as Firdausi Okezie (pictured with him), who was in the university when Abdulraheem went missing, had finished her school and gone to Lagos in search of employment. Okezie had converted to Christianity and was attending a programme at Canaanland, Ota, Ogun state, owned by Living Faith Church Worldwide better known as Winners Chapel. Fate brought her in contact with her missing sibling in November 2ooo.

It was during Shiloh, the church’s five-day annual gathering of its members from all over the world. Okezie, who was yet to get a job, was seated in the church, waiting for a carpenter to create a stall for her to display her tie and dye fabrics at the gathering when she saw a blind beggar being led by a boy she immediately recognised as her missing brother.

Okozie said she took Abdulraheem home that day and he lived with her until she enrolled him in school up to his tertiary education. She said when her mother saw her lost son, she found it hard to believe he was the one until she found a birthmark on his arm.

Given his good academic performance, he moved up the education ladder fast and gained admission to study chemical engineering at Ahmadu Bello University in Zaria, aged 17.

However, Abdulraheem was expelled during his fourth year in school after he was caught taking examination on behalf of another student. He now works as a supervisor on construction sites and hopes to go back to school when he has the finance.

He said he habours no ill feelings towards his abductors, adding that the experience shaped him to relate with people.

Asked how he feels about beggars, Abdulraheem said, “When they see a beggar with someone, they should have a second thought that, possibly, this child could need help. Don’t just see and give money and walk away.”

“Someday when I am comfortable financially, I hope to continue my education.

“Nothing that people do actually gets to me. I just see it as a way of life. I don’t hold grudges,”

On her part, Okezie said she regrets not making efforts to rescue the other children from where they were kept.

“In a developed country, you would just go and tell the police. But, here, the police would ask you to give them money for fuel and all that, and I didn’t even have a job,” Okezie said.