Okwuchukwu Ibekwe, 27, proudly carried his baby boy, Chidera, in his hands. Just like most African fathers, he knew the tot signified strength and the offshoot of his next generation. As expected, family members and friends congratulated him on his bundle of joy. A vehicle spare parts dealer in Ladipo market area of Lagos State, none thought he could trade his now five-month-old baby for money.
But he did.
Last December, he was said to have tricked his wife to buy him some food but upon her return from the errand, the baby could no longer be found, neither did she see her husband. She raised the alarm.
After some days, a lawyer whom Ibekwe had contacted to assist him in arranging a trip to the United Arab Emirates for work purposes, Raphael Nwogu, invited Ibekwe’s wife and a man who initially introduced Ibekwe to him to a meeting.
The legal practitioner was surprised to hear that Ibekwe, together with his son, was missing. He had received the latter in his office few days earlier and on the day of the visit; Ibekwe also gave him a part payment of N200,000 for the processing of his trip to the UAE.
He knew he had to help the police arrest the culprit. Thus, he invited Ibekwe to his office and told him they needed to discuss his travel plans. He didn’t disclose to him that his wife was looking for him and her baby.
After few minutes of discussion, the lawyer ushered in Ibekwe’s wife. He was tongue-tied because he was said to have told the lawyer that he had relocated her to his hometown in Anambra State because of his planned trip.
He was unable to give the whereabouts of the baby and the police in Iba Police Post were contacted. He was arrested in the lawyer’s office and later transferred to Ojo Police Station.
He said, “Chinelo (who he sold the baby to) was to give me N400,000 for the baby. My wife was the one who suggested that we dispose of the baby to meet our business needs. But Chinelo gave me N250,000 for the baby when I went to deliver him to her in Anambra State.
“When I returned, my wife and I quarrelled and she ran away for three days. I did not know that she went to report the matter to the police. She was concerned with her share of N150,000.’’
Ibekwe is currently facing a three-count charge. The next hearing for the case had been fixed for March 17 in Court 23, Ikeja Magistrate Court.
When contacted, the spokesperson for the Lagos State Police Command, Dolapo Badmus said she would get back to our correspondent on whether the baby had been recovered.
She was yet to do so at the time of filling this report.
When our correspondent visited the two-storey building on 23 Shinaba Street, Agboroko in Iba Local Government Area which was the residence of the accused on Thursday, the occupants refused to comment on the matter.
They stayed indoors and only mumbled words from the precincts of their rooms. The black gate with the inscriptions: ‘Jesus is Lord’ and ‘Blood of Jesus’ was locked as our correspondent walked out of the compound.
The accused is one out of the Nigerians arrested to have sold their children for money. The reason of poverty given by Ibekwe for his action is akin to what other perpetrators caught by the police also identified as responsible for their behaviour.
This was reinforced by the spokesperson of the Delta State Police Command, Celestina Kanu.
Kalu said, ‘‘They always claim that poverty drove them to the crime. They said they had no money to take care of themselves hence had to take to the crime.’’
Despicable baby sales
Mariam Ekanem was not different. Her milk of kindness has been dried by poverty. A young lady, she had hoped to get all the best life has got to offer until October last year when an incident changed the course of her life.
The Cross River State Police Command apprehended her while she was said to be concluding plans to sell her baby.
The 20-year-old, who is said to hail from Odukpani Local Government Area of the state, could not understand how her plans fell like a pack of cards before her eyes.
According to the Public Relations Officer of the state Police Command, John Eluu, Ekanem was trying to sell her baby having collected a part payment of N20,000, before she was arrested by the police.
Ekanem, in her defence statement, said, ‘‘I had no intention of selling the baby. I wanted to give him out to someone to help me take good care of him. I am not working. I do not have money to take care of him and even to feed myself.’’
Ekanem’s case made light of what a female sergeant, Obotie Adesuwa did. At least, she was not the mother of a week-old baby she sold. The police woman was attached to the Akinpelu Police Division in the Oshodi area of Lagos state and a baby was brought to the police station by a mentally challenged woman.
Adesuwa was arrested and detained by the X-Squad Section of the Lagos State Police Command having allegedly sold the baby in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, for an undisclosed amount.
The Commissioner of Police, Fatai Owoseni, who disclosed the dismissal of the police woman during a press briefing, added that the baby had been reunited with his mother.
He said, “We used our investigative acumen to recover the baby. He has been reunited with his mother. The police sergeant is now a civilian.’’
Adesuwa is currently standing trial.
A nation’s gloomy realities
With its poor living condition, there’s no denying the fact that Nigeria is facing hard times and Nigerians are resorting to different means to beat poverty.
The 2006 United Nations Human Development Index put Nigeria at 159 out of 177 countries that 70.8 per cent of the population lives on less than $1 a day and 92.4 per cent on less than $2 a day.
The situation is worsening a decade after the report. The signs of economic crisis in the country are bold: from job losses, irregular financial policies and reversals, unemployment, weaker naira against the dollar, drop in global oil prices at less than $32 per barrel to the cash crunch across states who are finding it increasingly difficult to pay salaries.
On her recent visit to Nigeria, the Managing Director, International Monetary Fund, Ms. Christine Lagarde, noted that poverty, inequality and unemployment remained too high in the country.
Besides, Nigeria, with about 170 million people, was ranked in 2014 by the World Bank in its global poverty index as one of the top five countries with the highest number of poor people. It rated third on the list of the top 10 nations with ‘extreme poverty.’
If anything, the nation’s resources have been concentrated in the hands of a rich few through a cocktail of corruption. These realities are terribly making some Nigerians to take to heinous crimes such as child trafficking for survival.
However, a professor of Psychology at the Department of Psychology, Faculty of Social Sciences, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Osun State, Toba Elegbeleye, stated that it was cruel for baby sellers to rationalise their action.
He said there was no justification for selling one’s child.
Elegbeleye stated, “There is no justification whatsoever to trade one’s child for cash. It is the height of criminal act.”
The booming trade
In 2015, there were 22 reported cases of sale of children in Nigeria. The acts was carried out by the family friends, parents and close relations of the newborns.
There was an upsurge of the criminal activity in the months of August, September and October. August recorded four cases while the remaining two had three cases apiece.
These cases occurred across states which included Imo, Delta, Akwa Ibom, Ogun, Lagos, Enugu and Cross River.
The prices for the sale of the babies — who were aged between three days to three weeks — ranged from N20,000 to N1.5m.
Our correspondent’s findings showed that in the reported cases, 19 of the babies were males while the rest were females.
For instance, a 25-year-old sales girl in Omuwa Town, Imo State, Ogechi Njoku, was arrested by the police in Lagos alongside two accomplices after they allegedly stole a baby from Imo and sold it to a couple in the Cele, Mile 2 area of Lagos for N1m.
Njoku was apprehended by policemen attached to the Makinde division on her way to deliver the baby to the couple.
It was gathered that Njoku later led the State Intelligence Bureau, which handled the matter, to arrest her two accomplices – Patience Nwaogbo and Ngozi Izuora.
The majority of those arrested by the police in connection with the dastardly act were mostly uneducated traders and artisans who gave ridiculous reasons for their actions.
But a criminologist and expert on security matters, Mr. Pedro Ayandokun, said only the intermediaries had been apprehended in most cases and not the kingpins of the baby cartel.
Baby factories boost business
Much as willing baby sellers and buyers have joined forces to boom the illegal trading, activities of baby factories are also increasing the fortunes of the baby traders.
While the baby factories harbour women paid to have babies for illegal adoptions by couples in dire need of children, parents and individuals trying to escape the biting effects of the financial hardship in the country find solace in selling their kids.
Last year, security agents rescued nine pregnant girls and women during a raid on a baby factory in Enugu State.
Same year, a baby factory was also uncovered in Imo while some illegal orphanages, where babies were said to be sold to prospective buyers depending on their bargaining power, were discovered by the police in Warri and Asaba areas of Delta State.
Nigeria is not the only country in this situation. China also battles baby factories.
In India, however, there is what is regarded as the world’s first surrogacy shop where Indian women make babies for childless Western couples.
The owner of the shop, it was reported, pays each surrogate £4,950 (N1, 420,650) and charges prospective parents £17,250 (N4, 950, 750).
Ayandokun was of the view that both the buyers and sellers of babies were engaging in a blind deal.
According to him, the buyer is unsure of the trouble that may arise in future about the baby being bought while the seller is also oblivious if the buyer genuinely needs the baby to cater for or merely buying for ritual purposes.
“Some people even sell unborn babies while still pregnant. The economic recession in the country is chief among causes of this situation. But it is not justifiable in anyway. As parents, government and institutions, we have failed our children if this trend is not checked,” he stated.
He also argued that the clampdown on baby factories especially in the South-East region of the country had not stopped new ones from emerging.
The Force Public Relations Officer, Olabisi Kolawole, said the Force was ready to prevent any type of crime in the country and arrest offenders.
She stated, ‘‘We have embarked on the sensitisation of the public on personal security. The Force is using the guide to personal security developed by the Inspector-General of Police, Solomon Arase, to constantly sensitise the public. We urge the public to work with the police in ensuring a crime-free society.’’
The spokesperson added that the sensitisation on security embarked on by the Force was yielding fruits.
According to her, the awareness on security by the Force made the commercial driver, who took Njoku, to report to the police having noticed that she was unable to breastfeed the baby but instead gave him baby food when he cried.
She said the driver’s report to the police eventually led to the arrest of Njoku.
Experts’ take on the trend
Speaking on the growing business of selling babies, Elegbeleye, said the trend was an evidence of the decaying social structure caused by the economic recession in Nigeria.
He added that with the many social problems in Nigeria, people tend to engage in a lot of anti-social activities to survive hard times.
The lecturer stated, “We can only talk about the one that is open to all. What about the ones which are hidden from the public. When people are denied of economic rights, they tend to do anything to make ends meet.”
The don noted that the perpetrators appeared to have been driven to the wall of economic hardship to go to the extent of selling babies for cash, adding, ‘‘There are some who even sell parts of their bodies for money. We have read stories of how some persons sold one of their kidneys. It is a social malady.”
Also, a popular Lagos-based lawyer, Mr. Jiti Ogunye, classified the sale of children as human trafficking.
He noted that human trafficking is a generic term for an offence involving the taking of people, children and women out of their environment, parental control to someone else for monetary purposes.
The lawyer further said the Traffic in Persons (Prohibition) Law Enforcement and Administration Act, CAP T23. Vol. 15 Law of the Federation of Nigeria prohibits the selling of persons for a purpose and recommends 14 years jail term for offenders without an option of fine upon conviction.
On his part, Ayandokun urged the government to provide good governance for the people in order to reduce crime rate.
He further tasked security agents to check the menace by beaming their searchlights on those behind the act.
Besides, the Force spokesperson appealed to parents to care for their children and not exchange them for money.
She said it was unimaginable for someone to sell human beings not to talk of their children.
‘‘It is inhuman. They should desist from such act. They should remember that the children are their future and the future of the country,” Kolawole said.
SOURCE: PunchNEWS
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