Tariniye Okah-Akpotu, a businesswoman living in Bayelsa State, has accused the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) of harassing her family, breaching their human rights and making life unbearable for them.

The nursing mother told FIJ that since NAPTIP first contacted her family in May to accuse them of human trafficking, she had known no peace.

Okah-Akpotu said that her ordeal began on May 5 after the dedication of her last child in a church in Yenagoa. She said on their return from church, her husband got a call from his boss, Daniel Igali, to show up at the office.

The businesswoman said that when her husband got to the office, he met Igali, the Bayelsa State Commissioner for Sports and some officials of the Department of State Service (DSS).

“His boss introduced the DSS officers to my husband and said that there was a petition from Abuja and that they should go to the DSS office in Bayelsa to answer the petition,” Okah-Akpotu told FIJ.

“When they got there, they told my husband that there was a petition indicting us for procuring our two children. They asked him to call me to bring our two children, which he did immediately.”

She said that in the DSS office, her husband asked to see a copy of the petition but they refused to show it to him.

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“When I got there, the DSS officials saw my children and me and said ‘the woman and these children look alike’. As we entered their office, a DSS official told me that they’d been tracking us for over two months,” she said.

“He said that they got a petition from Abuja that we bought our two children, adding that they got an intelligence that we were dedicating our baby that day.”

The businesswoman said the official told her they had a bus with officers in it around the church premises, and that they could have handcuffed her inside the church but refrained from doing so because they didn’t want her disgraced.

“He also said that while tracking us, they discovered that my husband and the commissioner had been in talks. Since the commissioner has some cordial relationship with them, they used that as a reason to invite us over,” she said.

“My husband’s boss introduced us to Abieyuwa Ikhidero, Bayelsa State NAPTIP commander, and Wariebi Sambo, the spokesperson of NAPTIP in Bayelsa. He then asked the NAPTIP officers to continue the investigation.”

NAPTIP BEGINS TO HAUNT OKAH-AKPOTU

She stated that the NAPTIP officers asked her where she gave birth to her baby and she told them everything pertaining to her pregnancy and delivery.

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Okah-Akpotu said that while a barrage of questions was thrown at her, she tried to breastfeed her hungry baby, but the officials who saw her got irritated and asked her to stay away from their office. She said the officers later asked her and her husband to appear at their office the following Thursday, May 12, for further questioning. They did, but with a lawyer.

“When we got to the NAPTIP office, Ikhidero said she had informed the office in Abuja that what she saw showed that I was the mother of the children, but the Abuja office had disagreed,” she stated.

“The NAPTIP office in Abuja insisted that we do a DNA test and make ourselves available for DNA testing when they called upon us. My husband and I told them there was no problem, provided that they give us prior notice before then so that we could prepare, and Ikhidero said yes.”

Okah-Akpotu said that her lawyer requested the petition letter from Ikhidero but learnt the family had to apply for it with photocopies of all her items, such as antenatal cards, pictures, etc., which they agreed to submit alongside the petition letter.

The businesswoman said that her lawyer told NAPTIP that he and the family doctors would accompany the agency’s doctors in taking the sample to run the DNA tests.

“He said that my family doctors would do a private investigation as well at the expense of NAPTIP, but Ikhidero rejected the plan, saying their own doctors would do everything in their lab,” she said.

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Okah-Akpotu said that on June 15, Ikhidero called her husband, asking the couple to come the following day for further questioning.

NAPTIP FURTHER FRUSTRATES OKAH-AKPOTU

Okah-Akpotu said that when they arrived at the office, Ikhidero told her that NAPTIP had transferred the case to Benin.

“Ikhidero showed us a van that had come to take us to Benin. She also introduced us to two officers from Benin and two heavily armed officers,” she said.

She said she and her husband stood and firmly rejected the idea because NAPTIP did not inform them beforehand that they would go to Benin.

Okah-Akpotu said Ikhidero called their zonal commander on the phone to persuade her family to embark on the journey.

“The zonal commander asked when we were likely to come. We told him June 21, the following Tuesday. He agreed but said that we were going to pay our transport fares from Bayelsa to Benin and back because we rejected his offer,” she said.

She said that after they argued the issue for a while, they both agreed to pay for part of the journey.

Okah-Akpotu stated that immediately after they agreed on how to sort their transportation fares, Ikhidero asked her to write a statement. She said her lawyer asked for the petition letter at that point but NAPTIP could not produce it.

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“Instead, they used words of mouth to say I bought children. In good faith, I wrote the statement, from when I got pregnant to where I delivered,” she said.

Okah-Akpotu said that her lawyer told Ikhidero to write to her family if they wanted to take them to Benin for the DNA test, which they did immediately.

The businesswoman said she, however, noticed some nuances in the letter NAPTIP gave her. According to her, the first letter given on June 16 says she bought her children, but the second letter says only the last child is not biologically hers.

“So, my lawyer asked them if they had agreed that I had delivered the first child. They said they would send their agents to check our house, so we took them to our abode,” she said.

“The following day, NAPTIP called my husband to come and pick up a letter. The letter reads that the mother and two children were to present themselves for DNA testing, but there was no place for the father in this.”

‘NAPTIP WANTS TO COLLECT MY BABY’

Okah-Akpotu said that on June 21, she and her husband were ready to set out for Benin when she fell ill.

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“I was admitted at the Federal Medical Centre in Yenagoa that morning. My husband got across to Ikhidero through a text message, telling her we could not come because I was sick, but she did not get it on time,” she said.

Okah-Akpotu said that Ikhidero called her husband after seeing the message, asking her why she would fall ill on such a day. According to her, Ikhidero said her boss would not accept such an excuse.

She said that what surprised her that day was Ikhidero storming the hospital to take pictures of her despite her refusal to visit the same hospital to verify her pregnancy records.

“So they could come and verify if I was in the hospital, but not verify from the same hospital where I delivered if I was indeed pregnant, despite presenting my antenatal card,” she said.

“We had even written to the hospital management, telling them to assist NAPTIP in their investigation. So there was nothing that would have held them back from investigating the matter.

“I am sensing foul play. This is why I am coming to social media. I have nothing to hide. They want to collect my baby from me.”

When FIJ called Abieyuwa Ikhidero, she said the matter was before the court and therefore she could not say anything.

“I don’t have power or authority to say a word on this matter. What do you expect me to say?” She asked our reporter.

FIJ also called Wariebi Sambo, NAPTIP’s spokesperson in Bayelsa, but he refused to comment, stating that the matter was in court already.