A six-year-old girl was early Thursday morning saved from being killed by a kidnapper who took her away from where she was sleeping in the middle of the night, and later attempted to murder her.

The victim, identified as Feranmi Bukola, while narrating her ordeal, said she was sleeping by her mother’s side when the suspect allegedly sneaked into the uncompleted apartment, woke her up and carried her shoulder-high out of the house, while covering her mouth.

She was shocked when they got outside the house and the man brought out a knife to kill her. She shouted, and the suspect ran away.

The mother of the victim, Mrs. Mary Jumai Samaila Bukola, who hails from Dukwa in Niger State, said she heard a screamed, at about 3am, that woke her up from bed. She thought someone was trying to steal her animal, only to find out it was her daughter that was about to be slaughtered after being kidnapped from her sleep.

“I woke up around 3am when I heard noise like someone wanted to kill an animal, and then I realized that my daughter was no longer by my side. I got to the corridor and the main door open, only to see my daughter struggling with the man outside.

“When I saw the man holding a long knife, I shouted for help. He took to his heels and I pursued him with stones for a while and then carried my daughter back into the house,” she said.

Investigations revealed that the services of the suspect, a commercial motorcyclist, were often sought by Imole John, Feranmi’s elder sister, who put to bed recently.

Unfortunately for him, the little girl identified him when he visited the house in the morning to run an errand. As soon as Feranmi saw him, she shouted, pointing at him as the man who came at midnight to kidnap her and attempted to kill her.

The suspect was said to have wormed his way into the family such that neighbours thought he was a friend to Imole’s husband. He was said to have visited the house thrice on Wednesday on the pretext of coming to felicitate with the new mum.

Imole, in her account, said that the first time she patronised the suspect was when she was not feeling well during her pregnancy.

The little girl kept insisting on the ‘okada’ rider as the suspect even when other men were brought before her for identification at the Area F Police Station, Tanke.

The Police Public Relations Officer, Ajayi Okansanmi, when contacted said he was yet to get details.