Abia is in the news again. The sale of
babies seemed to be lucrative enough to attract more buyers and sellers
from Anambra, Imo and Rivers to the state.
To say the
least, the development is
bizarre and puzzling, according to feelers
from the police
command during a news briefing yesterday. The force held
a similar media parley two weeks ago.
The security agency
yesterday reeled out yet another startling revelations. In recent
incidents, a nine-month-old pregnant woman and mother of two, who was
tricked out of her matrimonial home in Imo State to Aba, by her friend
who had already made arrangements for buyers of her
baby, told the
police that she did not know why and how she accompanied her friend to
Abia State’s commercial hub.
Ms Ogechi Eberendu, who hails from
an undisclosed community in Imo State, was rescued by the police while
she was being induced to deliver the baby for the waiting buyers. Five
suspects including a male, are in police custody. They would soon be
charged to court for the alleged crime, the police said. The suspects
who came from
different states such as Rivers, Imo and Anambra for the
purchase of the
unborn child, are helping the police in their
investigation. The Commissioner of Police, Mr Usman Tilli, stated this
yesterday while briefing newsmen on how the police are curbing crimes,
warning evil doers to flee Abia or face the consequences .
Tilli,
who paraded the suspects at the command‘s headquarters along Bende
Road, Umuahia, was his second briefing in two weeks. He said that the
woman whose pregnancy was nine months, was being induced to have the
baby for anxious buyers. Tilli said that the suspects were arrested at
8.30 pm last Sunday, April 14 at an eatery based in Osisioma Area of
Aba. The suspects are Nkeiruka Ogbodo, Uchechi Duru, Ngozi Obasi,
Tochukwu Uwakwe and Ugochukwu Okafor, the only male among them. One
suspect, while narrating how she tricked Ogechi, said that she was
doing a “good Samaritan” work by finding somebody who would marry Ogechi
with her pregnancy since she had been having
children in her father’s
house.
But Ogechi disagreed. She told Daily Sun that she did not
know what the suspect was talking about, stating that she has a husband
with whom she bore two children. She said that she did not even know
how and why she followed the lady to Aba, leaving her husband and
children. “My husband did not know where I am now , but I have called
him on phone and he will be coming here to take me home. My husband did
not know my whereabouts . “In fact, I don’t even know what is going on.
All I know is that we were there having drinks when the police came and
arrested us and took us here. “While I was with them, they gave me so
many things to drink.
I did. not know what they were,” Ogechi
said. Meanwhile, Mr. Tilli has advised parents to be mindful of what
they do, stating that criminals and evil doers are on the prowl. He,
however, assured Abians that his command will ensure that crimes would
be a thing of the past in the state soon. Meanwhile, a 32-year-old
Onitsha-based trader, Obinna Obu, who was arrested in Umuode Community
in Osisioma Local Government Area also in Abia State, while negotiating
for the sale of his six-year-old daughter, Adaobi, after lying to her
mother that he was taking her to Aba for shopping, has said that the
suspected middle-man used juju on him to sell the girl. Obu, who hails
from Umudim, Imeziowa in Ezeagu LGA of Enugu State, was arrested with
his alleged agent, Eze Ochiegbu, 25, and a native of Isialangwa South
Local Government Area of Abia State.
Commissioner Tilli said that
they wanted to sell the child for N500,000 before they were
apprehended. Adaobi is Obu’s only daughter. The two suspects were
arrested at Tonimas, by Umuode in Osisioma area last Wednesday, April
10, at about 5.00pm. Speaking to Daily Sun during the parade, Obu said
that he had problem with his business and confided in his friend,
Ochiegbu, who advised him to sell the daughter
to enable him revive it.
“He said: “I should bring my daughter for sale and I asked him why he
should be telling me that type of thing and he kept coming.
One
day, he came again and I told him that I did not have
money and he said
that he would bring money and when I brought my daughter, he said I
should follow him with my daughter. My wife was not aware that I wanted
to sell our baby. My wife is coming from Onitsha. It was just like he
used juju on me because I was obeying him. First, he said that he was
going to pay N500,000, later, he said N300,000 and after, he said he
would pay N210,000. He was just dribbling me,” Obu said. Little Adaobi
who spoke to Daily Sun confirmed that Obinna is her father.
“He
is my daddy. He said I should follow him to Aba, he did not tell me that
he was going to sell me there. He only told my mummy that he was taking
me to Aba,” Adaobi said.