Nigeria Content Online

The past two weeks must have been the most trying times in the six-year-old marriage of Folorunsho Odegbaike and her husband.

On February 13,
their 10-month-old baby, Enioluwa Odegbaike went missing from their
Magodo home while in the custody of a nanny they hired just two weeks
before.

Enioluwa, born
five years after his parents got married, was believed to have been
abducted by the nanny, who was known only as Victoria.

After two weeks of frantic search, Baby Enioluwa was finally reunited with her parents on Saturday morning.

According to a member of the Odegbaike family, he was found in the border town of Badagry in Lagos.

“Yes he has been found. He is fine and he is in good health,” he said.

One of Enioluwa’s aunty, who identified herself as Ibukun in a broadcast message, confirmed that he was found in good health,

“Yes! Indeed, the
baby has been found! “Yes! Thank you so much for your concern, yes
Enioluwa is back home,” said the aunty, who added that she was
currently at the Odegbaike residence. “Our dearest baby and now yours,
Enioluwanimi just came back home safely at 8.20am this morning,” she
said.

The search for Enioluwa

The family
reportedly never allowed the nanny to take Enioluwa outside the house;
but she took the boy while his mother, a former Airtel employee, was in
the shower.

The Odegbaike
family immediately circulated a text message, as well as Blackberry
Broadcast messages with the baby’s picture that went viral immediately
after the kidnapping was discovered.

“Please let us
join voices tonight to pray & lift our voices to God about the
disappearance of Enioluwa Odegbaike who has been missing since last
Sunday…” the message read.

Since then, the
message, along with photos of Enioluwa and the nanny, have been
circulated on the Internet. It appeared on hundreds and perhaps
thousands of Facebook pages, Twitter updates, and has continued to
spread among BlackBerry users.

When the story of the boy’s disappearance was published on www.234next.co m on February 23, it got about 70
comments offering prayers and asking for more information about the boy
and the nanny. Many commenters volunteered to help search for the boy.

It is safe to say
that about 100,000 people are now aware of Enioluwa’s kidnapping, and
probably about half of that number are prayed at some point that the
boy be returned safely to his parents.

There were also
reports that the Odegbaikes received telephone calls from about 20
different phone numbers within six days from some unknown location in
Cameroun following their son’s kidnap, although no ransom was demanded.

It is still uncertain if the family paid any ransom to ensure the safe return of their baby.

The Public
Relations Officer of the Lagos State Police Command, Samuel Jinadu
could also not be reached to comment on the matter.

The mobile phone
of Mr Jinadu, who is the only authorised police spokesperson in Lagos
State, was called several times but it was switched off.

Last week, Mr Jinadu announced the arrest of the man who acted as the nanny’s referee and who introduced her to the Odegbaikes.

“The person who introduced the nanny to the family has been arrested and is being quizzed by the police,” he said.

“The case has been
transferred to the State CID. All efforts are being made to find the
missing boy. The case is still under investigation.”

Found by the media

Over the years,
the Internet and news media have played a vital role in helping to find
missing children. Five-year-old Sharon Omolayo was kidnapped from her
school, Avicenna International School, GRA, Ikeja, Lagos by a trusted
employee of her family on December 13, 2010. Her family sent photos of
Sharon and her abductor across the Web and television stations
broadcast them also.

The media also
helped with the release of two adults, Ify Eneli and Michael Neri, who
were kidnapped on Friday, January 28 after leaving a night club in
Victoria Island, Lagos.

Their photos were
all over the Internet after they were abducted. A few other successes
have been recorded, and with the safe return of Enioluwa to her family,
many believe that the effort of the media, and concerned people across
the country, has paid off once more.

“We cannot begin
to express how much we appreciate you for your prayers, visits, phone
calls and support which eased the traumatic experience of the last 15
days. I am truly overwhelmed and I only ask the Lord to bless and
reward you indeed… Our hearts are full of rejoicing! Thank you
Jesus!” One of Enioluwa’s aunts said.

At press time, details of how Enioluwa was found were unclear and there was no word about the whereabouts of the nanny.