Reported by Ariajegbe Sylvia Esezobor
The Bayelsa State Police Command has charged eight suspects to court over the disappearance of one-year, ten-month-old Amarachi Blessing Ogbonna, who went missing from a church premises in the state on June 21, 2026, in a case that has drawn public attention and prompted the family to appeal directly to President Bola Tinubu for help.
The child was handed over to the children's department during a church service, and when her parents returned after the service to collect her, the children's teachers could not explain her whereabouts. The father, identified only as Festus, said in a video that the teacher initially confirmed the child had been entrusted to him but could not account for what happened to her. The family reported the matter at a police station the same day, where some individuals connected to the incident were taken in for questioning before being released. Festus later petitioned authorities in Abuja and sought the intervention of senior police authorities, saying the matter was transferred to the Inspector-General of Police. He also appealed to Nigerians, President Tinubu, and social media personalities to help locate his daughter. "I am begging Nigeria. I am begging everybody to help me in this matter because I am confused now," he said. "Since three months now, my child has been missing. Nowhere to find my child."
The case remained largely out of the public eye until this week, when the family's appeals circulated widely on social media, accompanied by claims that the police had been inactive in their investigation. The Bayelsa State Police Command responded on Friday with a detailed statement issued by its Public Relations Officer, DSP Musa Mohammed, dismissing the narrative as one that did not reflect the true nature of events. According to the statement, the Violent Crime Response Unit took over the investigation from the Ekeki Division on the directive of the Commissioner of Police and commenced intensive investigative efforts immediately after the incident was reported. The unit identified and arrested suspects connected to the disappearance, and based on the facts and evidence so far established, eight suspects were charged before the High Court of Bayelsa State, Yenagoa Judicial Division, in Charge No. BYHC/YHC/CR./81/2026. The suspects are awaiting arraignment. Other persons whose involvement was not established were released on bail.
The Command explained that the delay in arraigning the suspects was caused by the vacation of the courts, not by police inaction, and that the courts resumed proceedings this week. It said the investigation remained active, with sustained efforts directed towards the safe recovery of the missing child and her eventual reunion with her family. "The Command is pursuing all credible leads and will continue to take every lawful step necessary to unravel the circumstances surrounding her disappearance," the statement said. The police urged members of the public to exercise caution in relying on unverified narratives circulating on social media, particularly on sensitive cases involving children, saying such narratives could create unnecessary public apprehension and obscure the facts of an ongoing investigation.
The case has attracted significant public attention in Bayelsa and beyond, in part because of the circumstances of the disappearance. The child was left in the care of a church children's department, a setting where parents routinely entrust their children during services, and the fact that she vanished from that environment has raised uncomfortable questions about supervision and accountability in places of worship. The father's repeated appeals, including his request for intervention from the President and high-profile social media figures, reflect the desperation of a family that has spent three months without answers. His account that the matter was escalated to the Inspector-General of Police suggests that the family felt the local response was insufficient, even as the police maintain that a specialised unit took over the case promptly.
The Command's statement did not disclose the identities of the eight suspects or the specific charges they face beyond the case number. It also did not indicate whether investigators have established what happened to the child or whether they believe she is still alive. The police have declined to provide details about the whereabouts of the missing toddler, citing the need to avoid jeopardising the investigation. What is clear from the available information is that the case has moved from a missing-person report to a criminal prosecution, with eight people now facing charges in a High Court.
For the family, the arraignment of suspects represents a measure of progress in a case that had appeared stalled. But the central question remains unanswered: where is Amarachi Blessing Ogbonna? The police have said efforts to recover her are ongoing and that they are pursuing all credible leads. Until she is found, the case will remain a painful reminder of the vulnerabilities that children face even in spaces their parents believe to be safe, and of the challenges that families confront when the institutions meant to protect them fail to deliver swift answers.
As the case proceeds in the High Court of Bayelsa State, the coming weeks will reveal more about the evidence the police have gathered and the roles the eight suspects are alleged to have played in the child's disappearance. For now, the family continues to wait, and the public continues to watch, in a case that has become as much about the search for a missing child as it is about the trust that parents place in the institutions and communities that surround them.
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