A
23-year-old pregnant woman caused a stir at the Lagos State Police
Command headquarters on Thursday after she confessed that she had sold
her unborn baby for N200,000, in advance.
The suspect, Adaeze Mba, who was
arrested for conniving with her husband to sell their neighbour’s
four-year-old son for N400, 000, said it was poverty that pushed them to
crime.
She confessed that she and her husband, Chibueze, had sold two other children for N700, 000.
She said, “In March 2013, my neighbour’s
son, Stanley Ezeaka, was following me about in the compound at Jakande
Estate and it was at that time that my husband received a phone call
from his partner that she needed a child for sale. My husband then
suggested that we took Stanley even though he was a bit old.
“We travelled to Imo State the following morning and sold him for N400, 000 after which we relocated to Calabar.”
When asked why she took to crime and how
she would feel if someone bought her own children, she said, “I am
seven months pregnant and as I speak to you, my husband has already sold
our unborn baby for N200, 000.
“I was against it but he convinced me to agree to it, saying he had already collected the money.”
When asked about the other children she
and her husband had sold, she said, “The male child was sold at N400,000
while the female child, who was two months old but is now over a year
old, was sold at N300,000.”
Chibueze on his part, said he went into
the business last year. He said he had sold ‘only’ three children to his
business partner, Benedicta Ogbonna, and maintained that the children
were in turn sold to caring parents and not ritual killers.
He said, “One of the children was born
by a mentally challenged woman; so I have committed no crime by selling
the child to people who would take care of her.”
Ogbonna, who bought the three children from Chibueze and his wife at different times, said she sold children to bAREEN.
She said, “I am doing this business for
humanitarian reasons and not for monetary gain. I am 35 years old and I
have four children. I can never sell my own children and in fact my
husband does not know I am into this kind of business.
“Chibueze brought Stanley to me and told
me that his mother was a prostitute so he sold him to me at N400, 000. I
then sold Stanley to Mrs. Patricia Anibogwu for N600,000. So far, I
have sold only three children. I buy boys at N400, 000 and girls at
N300,000.
“I use the money to take care of people
and also invest it in my business. I sell shoes for a living at Anambra
Wholesale Market.”
Anibogwu, who was the final buyer, said
she thought Ogbonna was an employee of an orphanage. She said she bought
Stanley because she was lonely having lost her husband.
She said amid tears that, “I was married
for 28 years without a child. After my husband died, I decided to adopt
the child because I was lonely. Someone introduced me to Ogbonna.
Ogbonna told me she worked at an orphanage and would sell Stanley to me
for N600, 000.
“I used my savings to pay for him and
she brought Stanley to a roadside. I took Stanley home and started
taking care of him like my own child. I changed his name to Uchenna.
Ogbonna promised me that she would give me legal documents later but,
unfortunately, I was arrested.”
The Police Public Relations Officer,
Ngozi Braide, urged parents to be vigilant and also advised childless
women to go through the formal process of adoption rather than buying
children.
She said, “In March 2013, one Caleb
Ezeaka reported at Ilemba Hausa Police Division that his son, Stanley,
had gone missing the previous day, adding that he was last seen with his
neighbour, Adaeze Mba. All efforts to reach the neighbour proved
abortive as she and her husband had disappeared and their phones were
switched off.
“Through investigations, we traced them
to Calabar and they confessed that they had sold him at N400,000 to one
Benedicta Ogbonna. We traced Ogbonna to Anambra who then said she had
sold him to Patricia Anibogwu for N600,000. So we arrested them all.
“Adaeze and her husband, Chibueze,
confessed that they had sold three children to Ogbonna and they were
also rescued. One of the children was sold when she was three months old
and she is now a year and three months old.”
source: Punch
