Misleading! 16, not 200 children rescued in Port Harcourt

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Sunday Awosoro

Claim: A Facebook user claims that over 200 missing children were found in a compound located in the Ozuoba area of Port Harcourt, Rivers State.  

Verdict: Misleading. The claim originated from a Sept. 2024 incident where the Rivers State Police rescued 16 children, rather than 200 from a compound in Port Harcourt. This means the video is not from Jan. 2025, as claimed.

Full Text

A Facebook user, Matt Ilechukwu, claimed that over 200 missing children have been found in a compound located in Port Harcourt, Rivers State. He made this post on Jan. 13, 2024, and further advised others who may be looking for their children to visit and ask if theirs is among these children. 

Ilechukwu also attached a 47-second clip showing children who seemed lost. 

A screenshot of the post. Photo source: Facebook.

The same post has been shared across Facebook, as seen here, here, here, and here, with users believing it to be true. Due to its virality, DUBAWA conducted this fact check.

Verification

We conducted a keyword search on Google, which led to a report by Independent Newspaper in October 2024. In this report, the Rivers State Police termed the viral claim misleading. 

The original incident that led to this claim happened on Sept. 8, 2024, in the Ozuoba area of Port Harcourt. As explained by the State Police Public Relations Officer, SP Grace Iringe-Koko, 16 children (11 boys and five girls) were rescued, not 200. The PRO said the Police acted on intelligence, which said they were victims of trafficking.

“Upon investigation, it was revealed that the legal guardians of the children, Ekaette Williams and Emilia Ebitari, were arrested by men of the Akwa-Ibom State Command on the previous day for a crime they had committed, leaving the children unattended, and a concerned neighbour alerted the Police to the situation,” Iringe-Koko clarified.

“The Police promptly handed the children to the Rivers State Ministry of Social Welfare and reached out to the Akwa-Ibom Police Command, which confirmed the arrest. The two guardians have since been charged to court,” she added.

In the report, she further cautioned the purveyors of this narrative to “desist from such unethical behaviour.”

A report by Guardian Newspaper also corroborated these findings. 

Conclusion

The video originated from an incident in September 2024 where the Rivers State Police rescued 16 children from a compound, not 200. This is not a recent development, as portrayed in the claim. The claim is misleading.