Itoro BASSEY (Propellerng.com)
The girl who was stolen as a baby in 2005 has been reunited with her biological father, David David, twelve years after she was snatched by her aunt.
The girl, now 15, grew up as Destiny Abraham Nelson, but has now learned she was born as Eti-Mbuk David.
Eti-Mbuk, on Tuesday, had an emotional reunion with David, her biological father, and family members, after officials of the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP), in Uyo, mediated a settlement which established that Eti-Mbuk had been living with a couple, Mr and Mrs Abraham Nse Nelson, she wrongly believed was her parents.
It took NAPTIP nine years to arrive at the conclusion of the matter before the reunion between David and Eti-Mbuk.
David David, the girl's father, told Propellerng.com, on Friday, that the reunion meant the "whole world " to him.
He said, "My daughter slept in my house with me and my wife (on Tuesday). She was not comfortable that evening that she returned home, you know, change of environment played a role.
"The following day, she was okay, she prepared breakfast together with my wife, Enobong, and we all ate.
After that, I went out to repair my car, while she was alone in the house reading.
"When I returned, I took her to my village (Idiaba in Nsit Atai L.G.A) to introduce to my friends and family members for the first time. Later that day, at about three O'clock, I took her back to school.
"I felt so proud on Wednesday, the first the in my life, taking the child to school and we took photographs together.
"My daughter was okay and we discussed at length, we felt like not leaving each other.
"But because education was concerned, so we had to part ways temporarily for now".
Mr David added that his present wife received the girl with joy and welcomed her as her own child.
He said, "We took her to a boutique that my wife had already deposited so much money for her to get whatsoever she wanted.
"I think she selected a reasonable number of dresses. My wife is now making arrangements to get her good shoes too. We want to make her a good and a beautiful lady that she is".
David told Propellerng.com in an earlier report that Veronica Abraham Nelson, the woman who raised Eti-Mbuk as her daughter from infancy, together with her husband, Abraham Nelson, connived with her parents, Chief and Mrs Vitalis Bassey Essien, and took custody of the baby shortly after the death of her mother, Monica, in 2005, without his consent.
David said he reported the matter to NAPTIP in 2008. But since there was a planned intention of keeping the child away from him, Mr Nelson and his family members, in a 2008 petitioned to NAPTIP, claimed that the child died in 2006 after series of illnesses.
David, who ensued significant media attention to the matter, said a search ensued after a friend whispered to him that the girl was alive, while he succeeded in getting NAPTIP and the Federal Government of Nigeria to prosecute Abraham Nelson, Vitalis Essien and his wife, Benedit, on a seven-count charge of suspected human trafficking.
In a surprising development in April, Nelson, who was facing trial for liaising with his parents in-law, Chief and Mrs Vitalis Bassey Essien, to unlawfully keep Destiny Nelson, as she then was, begged a Federal High Court in Uyo to allow him settle out of court with David, the precedent for the Tuesday settlement.
At the Tuesday meeting, David demanded some conditions to be met by Nelson and his in-laws, Chief and Mrs Essien.
David said he would want Nelson and the Essiens to withdraw earlier petitions written against him and a written apology in newspaper publications.
"They should write back to NAPTIP headquarters and withdraw the destructive letter they wrote against me.
"They also wrote to the Department for State Services (DSS), accusing me of using gunmen to disturb them, falsely claiming that the child was their own.
"I insist they must withdraw the letter they wrote to DSS before we withdraw the case.
"And they have to apologise to me on the pages of newspapers for everybody to know that the child wasn't their own and that my child is alive.
"They have to state unequivocally that the child they claimed died many years ago is alive and that they have handed over the child to me".
Meanwhile, Mr Abraham Nelson, who appeared unperturbed after handing over the child to David, said he was okay with the new development.
During a telephone conversation with this reporter on Saturday evening, Nelson said, "I am not moved by anything people write in the newspapers. I am what I am, I am doing what God says I should do.
"I was doing God's work, I am not after what people say. I don't have any problem with David David".
At the moment, Eti-Mbuk David is taking her senior school certificate examination, the examination organised by the National Examination Council (NECO).
As of time of filing this report, this reporter could not ascertain whether or not her father, David, has changed her name from Destiny Abraham Nelson to Eti-Mbuk David David, her birth name.
Eti-Mbuk, in an unedited text message to her father, within the week, wrote: "De hostel is so quiet nw so if i make any call my voice will echo bt i will call u 2moro unfailingly.
"Daddy Pls I just checked my jamb result nd my score was 212 while my cut off point is 250 daddy pls is der any way u cud help me secure admission pls i will b veri grateful. tanx".
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