Reported by Ariajegbe Sylvia Esezobor
The Bayelsa State Police Command has dismissed claims circulating on social media that it has been inactive in the investigation of a missing child, disclosing that eight suspects have been charged to court over the disappearance of one-year, ten-month-old Amarachi Blessing Ogbonna from a church premises in the state on June 21, 2026.
In a statement signed by the Command’s Public Relations Officer, DSP Musa Mohammed, the police described the social media narrative as a misrepresentation of events, insisting that operatives of the Violent Crime Response Unit swung into action immediately after the report was made. According to the statement, the unit took over the investigation from Ekeki Division on the directive of the Commissioner of Police and commenced intensive investigative efforts. “Based on the facts and evidence so far established, eight suspects have been charged to court and are awaiting arraignment before the High Court of Bayelsa State, Yenagoa Judicial Division, in Charge No. BYHC/YHC/CR./81/2026,” the statement read. 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 police inaction, noting that proceedings resumed this week and the matter is expected to proceed accordingly. The police further stated that the investigation remains active, with sustained efforts aimed at the safe recovery of the missing child and her 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,” DSP Mohammed said. The Command urged members of the public to exercise caution in relying on unverified narratives on social media, particularly in sensitive cases involving children, warning that such narratives could create unnecessary public apprehension and obscure the facts of an ongoing investigation.
The case has drawn public attention since the family’s appeals circulated widely on social media this week. According to the child’s father, identified only as Festus, the toddler was handed over to a children’s department teacher during a church service at a Catholic church in the state. When the family returned after the service to collect her, the teacher initially confirmed the child had been entrusted to him but could not account for her whereabouts. “We carried our child to the church. We took the child to the children’s department class and handed her over to the children’s department class teacher,” Festus said in a video seen by reporters. “After the church was dismissed, we went to collect our child from the teacher. The teacher tried to say that they could not see our child.”
Festus said the family immediately reported the matter at a police station and made a formal entry. He alleged that some individuals connected to the incident were taken in for questioning but were later released. The family subsequently petitioned authorities in Abuja and sought the intervention of senior police authorities. “We wrote a petition to Abuja. They transferred the matter to the IG,” he said. He also claimed the matter had come to the attention of a Catholic bishop, whom he said prayed with him during a church service, though he expressed frustration that the bishop had not personally heard from him about how the child disappeared.
The distraught father appealed to Nigerians, President Bola Tinubu and social media personalities to help the family find their daughter. “I am begging Nigeria. I am begging everybody to help me in this matter because I am confused now,” he said. “I go to the church, the church doesn’t help me. I go to the police, the police don’t help me. Even the President of Nigeria, please help me with this matter.” He said the family had been searching for the child for about three months. “I am looking for my child. Since three months now, my child has been missing. Nowhere to find my child.” He also expressed frustration over what he described as a lack of connections to powerful officials who could help push the case.
The police have not disclosed the identities of the eight suspects or the specific charges they face beyond the case number. They have also 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. The arraignment of the suspects represents a measure of progress in a case that had appeared stalled for months.
The circumstances of the disappearance have raised uncomfortable questions about supervision and accountability in places of worship, where parents routinely entrust their children during services. The fact that the child vanished from a church children’s department, a setting parents believe to be safe, has amplified public concern. The case also reflects a broader pattern of child abductions in Nigeria, where churches and schools have increasingly become targets for criminals. In February 2026, nine children were abducted during a night vigil at a Catholic church in Benue State before being freed. In January, over 100 worshippers were reportedly abducted from three churches in Kaduna State. The recurrence of such incidents has fuelled demands for stronger security measures at religious institutions.
For the family, the arraignment of suspects offers a measure of hope, 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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