Missing 15-year-old girl returns home

A 15-year-old girl, Rita Clement, who has been missing since March 10, 2016, on the day she was to write her Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) in Ikeja, has returned home.

She was to write her examination at 06:30 AM at the West African Examinations Council International Office on Plot B, Lateef Jakande Road, Agidingbi, Lagos.

Clement was dropped off by her kidnappers at 9 PM in the Oshodi area of Lagos State.

On the day she got missing, she was able to send a text message to her mother, stating that she has been taken to an unfamiliar place by some unknown men who have brutalised her.

The text message reads, “Mummy, they took my phone and beat me up inside the bus. Mummy, I don’t know where they took me to. They made me sleep and said they will kill me if I ran. Someone gave me the phone, saying I must return it before they came back. Mummy, please save me.”

According to Punch Metro, Clement walked back into the family’s apartment at about 9pm on Wednesday, March 23, 2016.

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She was said to be unable to narrate her experiences when she got to her family's residence because she was too tired to speak.

She was taken to the Ojodu police division the next to make a statement.

During the investigation into the matter, the police developed a theory of absconding, rather than a kidnapping case.

Dolapo Badmos, the Lagos State Police Public Relations Officer, said, “The girl is back and I have spoken with her. From what she narrated, it is more of an absconding from home than being abducted. She had been in Abeokuta. Meanwhile, the police are still investigating to get to the roots of this matter.”

Kidnapping cases has been quite common since the beginning of the year, mostly involving victims under the age of 20 years.