Tension is rising following serious allegations against the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP), as parents of eight children allegedly taken from an orphanage in Asaba, Delta State, are crying out for help and demanding DNA tests to prove their biological ties to the children.
Popular Nollywood actor and activist, Stanley Ontop, first raised alarm over the matter, accusing NAPTIP of forcefully taking the children from Happy Home Orphanage on June 15, 2025, without proper documentation or a court order.
According to the actor, NAPTIP moved the children from Asaba to the Nasarawa Orphanage Home in Kano State, changed their names, and allegedly converted them to Islam. In a post shared on social media, he wrote: “@officialnaptipnigeria officials from Kano came to Asaba and abducted these Igbo kids and Islamized them into Islam.”
Reacting to the allegations, NAPTIP released a statement on Tuesday, claiming that the children were originally stolen from Kano between 2017 and 2022 and were only being rescued and returned to their state of origin.
However, several parents and guardians linked to the children have publicly denied this, insisting that their children were never stolen and have been living legally at Happy Home Orphanage.
In a widely circulated video posted by Stanley Ontop, one of the affected mothers, Mrs. Favour Emeh, emotionally recounted her experience.
“I’m a widow and I started working at Happy Home Orphanage in June this year as a cook after my husband died in April. Just three days after I resumed work, NAPTIP came and took away eight children, including my 5-year-old son, Chukwudalu Emeh,” she said, showing her son’s birth certificate to the camera.
Other parents also appeared in similar videos online, pleading with the government and the general public to intervene. They are demanding that DNA tests be conducted immediately to prove the true identities and origins of the children.
The names of the missing children as released are:
Madu Abuchukwu Elijah
Madu Abuchukwu Chinwemeri
Madu Abuchukwu Nzubechukwu Ifeanyi
Chimamanda Azuke Mpa
Chibuike Azuka
Munachi Ogugua
Chukwudalu Emeh
Chikamso (Nanny)
Many Nigerians have taken to social media to express outrage over the situation, with questions being raised about the legal process followed by NAPTIP in relocating the children and the allegations of forced religious conversion.
As public pressure mounts, the parents insist that all they want is justice, and most importantly, the return of their children.
