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Baby Enioluwa Now Found

Ten month-old Enioluwa Odegbaike who went missing two weeks ago from his parents' home in Magodo, Lagos has been found. According to a member of the Odegbaike family, he was found this morning in the border town of Badagry in Lagos. "Yes he has been found. He is fine and he is in good health," he said. A female member of the family, who identified herself as Ibukun, confirmed that the baby has been reunited with his family. "Our dearest baby and now yours, Enioluwanimi just came back home safely at 8.20am this morning," she said. Baby Enioluwa disappeared with her nanny, Victoria on February 13. It Is still uncertain if the family paid any ransom and the Police Public Relations Officer, Samuel Jinadu could not be reached to comment on the matter.

10 month old Enioluwa Odegbaike with babysitter's picture inset.

The family of 10-month-old Enioluwa Odegbaike who went missing 11 days ago has called on Nigerians to pray for the return of their baby because other efforts to find the child has proved abortive.

A member of the family who refused to give his name, said in a telephone interview with NEXT that the mother of the baby remains traumatised by the experience.

“She just wants to be left alone. All we need from Nigerians is their prayers that he is found and in good health,” he said.

The child was taken away from his parents’ home in Magodo, Lagos by his nanny on Sunday, February 13 and was never seen again. The nanny is believed to be working with some unknown persons.

Useful leads

When contacted, the Public Relations Officer of the Lagos State Police command, Samuel Jinadu, said the police has arrested the man who acted as the nanny’s referee and introduced her to the Odegbaike’s home. He is reportedly being questioned by the police.

“The person who introduced the nanny to the family has been arrested and is being quizzed by the police. The case has been transferred to the State CID. All efforts are being made to find the missing boy. The case is still under investigation.” He said.

Underground kidnapping in Lagos

The spate of kidnapping in recent times has led many victims and their families to find various means of finding their loved ones who go missing.

The Internet, through websites, BlackBerry Messenger, Facebook, Twitter and other social platforms have become tools that residents now use to spread news of kidnapping and other crimes in the state.

When five-year-old Sharon Omolayo was kidnapped from her school, Avicenna International School, GRA, Ikeja, Lagos by a trusted employee, on December 13, 2010, the Internet played a major role in spreading the news of her kidnap.

For the seven days she went missing, her pictures and that of her abductor was widely circulated online through several blogs, websites, Facebook and Twitter and within a few days, her name and pictures were imbedded in the minds of almost every Internet user within the country and abroad.

“It was hard not to see her,” said Efemena Mayo, a student. “Her pictures were everywhere. I first got it on my BlackBerry. Then I saw it on Facebook, Twitter, and different blogs. Before I knew it, I was looking closely at every young girl I passed on the street to see if she was Sharon because she had a birth mark on her face that was hard to miss.”

According to David Ogburn, Principal of Avicenna International School, the Internet was a very helpful tool in circulating information about Miss Omolayo, and once the information got on to Facebook, it spread quickly.

Also, when the duo of Ify Eneli and Michael Neri were kidnapped on Friday January 28 while leaving a night club in Victoria Island, Lagos, their pictures and the information about their kidnap spread quickly over the Internet with friends and family members asking for the support of the people in helping to find them.

They were released some days later after their families paid a ransom to their abductors and this information was again circulated over the Internet.

Recently, a picture of missing 10-month old Enioluwa Odegbaike has been circulated over the Internet, ensuring that more and more people get to know about the kidnap and lookout for him.

Still searching for Enioluwa

According to a release by the family, any information concerning the missing child should be reported to the nearest police station.

“If you have any information about Enioluwa or the nanny no matter how trivial, please call 07085534788, or the nearest police station. Enioluwa’s mother (Foluso) can be reached on this number, 08022228422,” said the family member who refused to comment further on the issue.

If you have any information concerning the disappearance of Enioluwa Odegbaike please call the numbers above or send a mail to metro@234next.com or  findenioluwa@systemini.net

(CNN) -- At age 13, Hope Witsell struggled in middle school. Not because her class work at Shields Middle School in Ruskin, Florida, was challenging, but because Hope was being bullied.

Her friend, Kyla Stich, told CNN that fellow students would "walk up to her and call her 'slut,' 'whore,' and they would sometimes, they would call her 'skank' and just be really cruel to her.".

Another friend, Lexi Leber, said, "We had to make like a wall, we had people surrounding her, and she had to be in the middle because people would come by and try to hit her and push her into a locker or something.

"She was afraid to walk alone, she was afraid someone would do something to her, like verbally attack her, so she would always have someone with her," Leber added.

This all started in the spring of 2009 during the last week of school.

Friends and family say Hope had "sexted" a picture of her breasts to her boyfriend. Another girl from school, they say, got her hands on the photo and sent it to students at six different schools in the area.

Before Hope could do anything to stop it, that photo had gone viral.

The school alerted Hope's parents. Her mother, Donna Witsell, told CNN how she learned about the photo.

"The assistant principal had a meeting with my husband and I and pretty much told us that he did not see the image but that he had heard that it was Hope and when he confronted Hope, Hope did not deny it. She wasn't proud of it but she didn't lie," Hope's mother said.

Mrs. Witsell says she had warned her daughter about the dark side of technology, about "some of the pretty sexual images of young girls and guys."

She added, "Hope was very aware of that, of inappropriate dress and most definitely posing."

Still, because of that photo, Hope had become a target for 11-, 12-, and 13-year-old bullies.

But she didn't share her pain with her parents.

Even when bullies wrote horrible things about Hope on a MySpace page called the "Shields Middle School Burn Book" and started a "Hope Hater Page," the young girl kept silent.

Summer provided a bit of a break, but when the new school year began, the taunting was even worse.

On Saturday, September 12, 2009, Hope Witsell helped her father mow the lawn. They cooked a special seafood dinner together as a family. Then Hope disappeared to her room upstairs. Her parents stayed downstairs and watched TV.

Donna Witsell will never forget the moment she went to say goodnight to her daughter.

"I went upstairs to go in her room and kiss her goodnight. That was when I found her. I screamed for my husband. And started doing CPR."

It was too late. Hope was already dead. She had used her favorite scarves to hang herself from her canopy bed.

After Hope died, her mother learned her daughter had been summoned to meet with a school social worker. A spokesperson for the school says the social worker was concerned Hope might have been trying to hurt herself, so she had Hope sign what's called a "no harm" contract in which Hope agreed to talk to an adult if she wanted to harm herself..

Hope's mother says she was never told about the contract, which she found crumpled up in the garbage in her daughter's bedroom after she died.

School officials told CNN they believed the social worker had tried calling Hope's mother to alert her but weren't sure if she had left a message.

"The school dropped the ball," Donna Witsell said.

"The school did not call. We have the digital telephone; we have the cell phones that indicate when there was an incoming call and what number was calling in. We have a house phone, I have a cell phone, my husband has a cell phone. We have emergency contact numbers at the school which was my sister-in-law and her husband. There was no indication that the school called any of those numbers," Hope's mother said.

Days after Hope died, her older sister, Samantha Beattie, discovered the bullying was still going on. Even in death, Hope could not escape it.

"I knew she had MySpace and Facebook. There were people putting comments on there: 'Did Hope really kill herself?' 'I can't believe that whore did that.' Just obscene things that I would never expect from a 12-year-old or a 13-year-old," said Samantha.

In the year or so that has passed since Hope Witsell took her own life, her mother has started a group called Hope's Warriors. She hopes it will help combat bullying and save other moms from feeling the horrendous pain that she feels.

Donna Witsell has a message for parents: "It happened to my daughter, it can happen to yours too. No one is untouchable. No one is untouchable."

On Thursday, Mo Hits star, Wande Coal, real name, Ojosipe Wande, became the hottest trending topic on social networking site, Twitter, when pictures alleged to be his nude shots, surfaced on the Internet.

Though this has attracted various comments from fans and the public alike, some of his colleagues have risen to his defence.

Mo Hits producer, Don Jazzy, tweeted “Kaiiiiiiii my boy is trending sha. Oya make somebody photoshop my own too o. Maybe I go trend too. Lol.”

Dele Momodu, Ovation publisher and 2011 presidential aspirant, also tweeted “@delemomodu2011: As the enemies tried to pull down great son of Nigeria @wande coal today. I urge all my good friends to pls tweet something great about Wande.”

Similarly, a few months back, a picture alleged to be that of fellow Mo Hit artiste DBanj and Wande Coal smoking marijuana in a bus surfaced on the Internet..

However, in a reaction to the issue, Mo Hits publicists, Big Sam Media, have risen in defence of Wande Coal. In a statement titled, Somebody is After Wande Coal, the artiste’s publicists say, “It has come to our notice that a purported nude picture of Wande Coal is being circulated on social networking site, Twitter, and that made him a trending topic yesterday and early hours of today.

“Wande is very grateful to those who have shown him love and as well to those who were constructive in their criticisms. He is saying a massive thank you.

Nothing to be ashamed of

“We also want to state categorically that there is nothing wrong or to be ashamed (of) about being naked but the pictures in question are not those of Wande Coal, the multiple Hip Hop World Award winner. That is not him and that can never be him.”

Big Sam media claimed that Wande Coal has been a target of “orchestrated attacks in past months”, citing a report that claimed that the artiste was being treated in psychiatric home.

“We have reason to believe that the person behind these nude pictures is the same person behind earlier negative and false stories. Therefore, we are no longer taking the matter lightly. Appropriate security agencies have been briefed and investigations are on-going so as to ascertain (the) true identity of the culprit and bring him or her to book.

Wande Coal started out as a soundtrack artiste for Mainframe Production. He was also a onetime dancer for Angelica, Boulevard, and Asa. He, however, got his big break after a chance meeting with the Mo Hits Family after a performance at the University of Lagos in 2006. He was signed on by Mo Hits records almost immediately, and released his debut album, Mushin to Mo' Hits.