Wonders, they say, shall never cease. In what seemed a bizarre, sale of babies is booming in Abia State, according to feelers from the police command which reeled out statistics at a briefing in Umuahia yesterday.
The Police Commissioner, Mr. Usman Tilli Abubakar, said that a 20-year-old father of one had sold his only son for N350,000 to enable him procure a Greek visa.
The suspect, Mr. Onyekachi Ekwelum, who resides at 13 B, Nwalozie Street, Aba, was reported to the police by his wife, Ozioma. The 20-year-old wife had sensed that her husband was up to some alleged evil plans when the man took his only son out only to return alone without the baby. The baby, Oluebubechukwu Ekwelum, who is barely six months old, was taken by his father to his buyers and left there.
When the man returned home, he could not explain the whereabouts of the child. Suspecting that something was amiss, his wife rushed to the police station and reported the incident.
The police swung into action and arrested the father of the child who took them to the buyers and the child was rescued. The child was handed over to the mother, the suspect has been arraigned.
But just as residents of Aba were trying to come to terms with the incident, a similar situation was playing out in another part of the state. In a similar development, a man, Oluchukwu, has accused his wife, Kelechi Amowse, 25, of conniving with a medical doctor to sell his baby boy for N300, 000.
The suspect, Dr Williams Oruwa, was arrested by the police after the woman’s husband, Oluchukwu of Isiala Ngwa South Local Government Area reported that the child who was just delivered by his wife, was missing. The suspects were picked up and have been charged to court.
During investigation, the police said they stumbled on three other pregnant women whom Dr Oruwa was allegedly harbouring in his hospital. It was said that he planned to sell the babies as soon as the girls were delivered of their babies.
The three female suspects are Blessing Okwu, 21, Janet Ogonna, 20 and Onuoha Chinenye 23. Also, on March 4, one Chidiebere Samuel of Ovurungwu Village in Isialangwa South LGA reported that his wife, Odinakachi Samuel, on February 26, delivered a baby girl and allgedly connived with one Monica Benjamin, who delivered her of the child, to sell the baby for N150, 000. The police also arrested the suspects and charged them to court at Umuahia.
The police also said they arrested a couple, who sold their new baby girl to a yet-to-be identified buyer for N200, 000. The suspects, (names withheld) are being held by the police to help them apprehend the buyer of the child. Abubarkar also told reporters at the command’s headquarters in Umuahia that the 42 days he had spent so far in the state have been a “period of human recovery.
We rescued more than three babies, sold by their parents and accomplices and charged them to court,” he stated. In another development, Abubakar also warned kidnappers, armed robbers, drug traffickers, human traffickers, fraudsters and other criminals operating in the state to lay down their arms or face the full weight of the law.
He said that his mission is to ensure that residents sleep with their two eyes closed. I have recorded four kidnapping cases and three have been rescued and re-united with their family members without the payment of any ransom.
Among them are the kidnap of a three-year-old Master Law Chikwendu on March 17, 2013 and the abduction of the 72-year-old wife of one Prof. Eze, who was tied and kept in a bush. She was rescued by the police after they blocked the escape route of the kidnapper.
There is also the abduction of a man from Port Harcourt to Abia State. These and more are some of the achievements I have made within my 42 days in office,” the police boss noted.
Culled from The Sun