Could this be poverty or just human wickedness? These were some of the questions running through the minds of people when officers of the Oyo State Police Command paraded one ‘Monday Chukwuka’ who allegedly sold his one-day-old grand daughter for N700,000.
Parading the suspect before newsmen, the spokesperson of the command, Adewale Osifeso, said Monday was arrested in his hideout in lbafo area of Ogun State following credible intelligence report.
“On July 10, 2023, an actionable intelligence report was received by a team of Police Operatives attached to the Command Monitoring, Oyo State about the ‘harvesting of a day-old baby girl’ from her teenage mother identified as Sarah Chukwuka in Oyo town and sale of the girl child to a criminal cartel that operates a baby factory in Abia State.”
Osifeso stated that upon intelligence-led interview, Monday, father of the teenage girl who gave birth to the day-old baby girl, confessed to the crime and explained in detail how he took the baby from her mother as soon as she gave birth under the pretext of handing over the baby to someone who would take good care of her.
“The suspect further explained in details, how he moved the day old baby to Abia State where he sold her to the owner of a baby factory located at Obehi, Okwa West in Abia State at the rate of Seven Hundred Thousand Naira (N700,000.00).
“Investigation activity was extended to Abia State and in the process of a coordinated raid on the baby factory, a female suspect identified as Popoola Bunmi and four other accomplices whose names are Chinwedu Peter, Chidinma Blessing, Chuckwu Christopher, and Favour Chukwu were all apprehended in connection with the criminal activity.”
Osifeso told newsmen that bundles of new birth Certificates and some equipment for baby deliveries were recovered from the factory, adding that the suspects as at the time of apprehension were unable to give any satisfactory explanation about the parentage of the babies recovered from the factory.
The suspect (Monday) said he decided to sell the baby because he can’t afford to take care of his teenage daughter and the baby, saying he used the money he collected after selling the baby to rent a shop and buy goods in it.