The National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) has denied allegations of illegal abduction following claims made by Nollywood actor and activist, Stanley Ontop, regarding a recent operation at an orphanage in Delta State.
According to NEW DAILY PRIME, Ontop alleged that NAPTIP conducted an unlawful raid on Happy Orphanage Home in Asaba on 15 June 2025, during which eight children were taken and subsequently relocated to Nasarawa Orphanage Home in Kano State. He further accused the agency of forcibly converting the children to Islam and changing their names.
In response to the viral claims, NAPTIP issued a statement via Instagram, firmly rejecting the abduction allegations. The agency stated that the children were not kidnapped but rescued as part of a broader operation targeting an inter-state child trafficking syndicate.
“The children were stolen from Kano and other states in the North to the South-South by a wanted inter-state child trafficking syndicate,” the statement read.
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NAPTIP disclosed that the rescue operation was conducted with the support of the Department of State Services (DSS), Anambra State Command, and the Nigerian Police, Delta State Command. Technical assistance was also provided by the Kano State Government through its Ministry of Women Affairs, alongside civil society organisations based in Kano.
The agency further explained that between 2017 and 2022, a series of complaints were received from parents in Kano and other northern states regarding syndicates who reportedly moved from community to community, luring children—mostly between the ages of two and ten—and trafficking them to other regions of the country.
“By 2022, over 25 children had been trafficked out of the region by the same suspected syndicate,” NAPTIP added.
The agency expressed concern over what it described as “unhealthy activities” in some orphanages and care homes across Nigeria, pledging to continue investigations and rescue efforts.
