By Huldah Shado
The owner of the controversial Happy Home Orphanage in Asaba, Delta State, Mr. Christopher Nwoye, has surrendered to the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP).
NAPTIP’s Press Officer, Vincent Adekoye, confirmed in Abuja on Thursday that Nwoye turned himself in at the agency’s headquarters, accompanied by his lawyer and four women claiming to be mothers of some rescued children.
The agency had earlier declared Nwoye wanted after a June raid on the orphanage led to the rescue of over 70 children, including 15 newborns, eight of whom were allegedly stolen from Kano and Gombe States.
NAPTIP Director-General, Hajia Binta Adamu-Bello, said investigations had begun in line with the Trafficking in Persons (Prohibition), Enforcement and Administration Act, 2015, stressing that the rescue was lawful and not an abduction.
She said the rescued children are under protective care and that DNA tests will be conducted to verify their parentage, while dismissing claims of religious coercion.
