A nursing mother has been apprehended in Owerri, Imo State, while allegedly attempting to sell her baby for N1.5 million.
The suspect, whose identity is yet to be disclosed, was arrested on Monday night following a tip-off to Imo-based activist and journalist, Chidiebube Okeoma.
According to Okeoma, he was contacted by an individual who had encountered the woman carrying a baby and overheard her expressing intent to sell the child.
Okeoma told the informant to feign interest as a buyer and arranged a meeting at Rock View, near the Imo State Police Headquarters. On arrival, he drove the woman and the informant straight to the police station.
During interrogation, the nursing mother allegedly blamed another woman for encouraging her to sell the baby, an allegation the said woman has denied. She claimed she took the desperate step because she does not know the father of the child and lacks the financial capacity to care for him.
In a video clip shared by Okeoma, the distraught mother was heard saying:
“I don’t want to sell my child because I want but seeing the condition I am into, I don’t have a means to raise the child, I don’t have shelter, I don’t have a job, I have not eaten for the past three days and still breastfeeding the child. If I die trying to raise the child as a single mother, what becomes of the child future? The situation around me is unbearable. I don’t have a father or a mother. The child is a product of forced sexual intercourse.”
She explained that she met the woman she accused while begging for food.
“She told me that she can get someone to take up the baby in exchange for money. She even suggested that I should tell the person, supposed buyer, N3 million and at worst case scenario the buyer will pay N1.5 million for me to start business and get a place to stay,” she claimed.
“I don’t know the person she arranged to take up the child. She made all the arrangements and I yielded to her demand because of the frustration.”
Both women are currently in police custody as investigations continue.
Efforts to get an official reaction from the Imo State Police Command were unsuccessful as the calls to the Command’s spokesperson, Henry Okoye, could not connect as at the time of filing the report.
