Abia couple who sold their baby claimed they did so because she was HIV positive

ABIA State couple Nkemakolam and Happiness Ugorji have told the police that they sold their two-month-old baby girl for N300,000 after discovering that she was HIV positive following their arrest for child trafficking.

After their apprehension as part of a crackdown on the sale of babies and trafficking in infants, the couple told the Abia State Police Command that they sold their child because of her illness. Although they could not back the HIV claim with a medical report the couple said that the test was carried out by an auxiliary nurse.

Apparently, following further interrogation, however, they confessed that they sold the baby due to the economic hardship they were facing. Nkemakolam, 35 and his wife, Happiness, when paraded by the police in Umuahia, following their arrest.

Happiness said: “I and my husband decided to sell our baby because of hardship as we have four children and my husband is not working. When I was pregnant there was no money for me to go for antenatal and feeding was even a problem for us and that was why we decided to sell our baby.”

She also said it was the auxiliary nurse who delivered her baby that linked them to the lady, who in turn helped them to sell the girl for N300,000. He husband who said he was an orphan, added that he had been jobless since they relocated to his Isialangwa village from Port Harcourt, confirmed that he agreed with his wife to sell the baby to raise money for his family.

He said: “I was riding Keke on hire purchase in Port Harcourt but when I could not meet up with the payments, the owner collected it from me, so we relocated to my village in Isialangwa and since then I have not got any other job and I have nobody to help us because I am an orphan. It was my village people, who informed the police that I sold my baby because I couldn’t give them a proper account of my baby when they discovered that my wife had delivered.”

However, the lady, who allegedly linked them to the buyer of the baby, known as Nma, denied the allegation, claiming she runs a registered charity home where she engages in the legal adoption of babies for interested people. According to her, the Ugorjis approached her to source foster parents for their baby, so, she invited one pastor, who has been married for 28 years without a child, to adopt the baby, which he did for N300,000.

According to Nma, she prepared an affidavit for them to sign in court as part of legal adoption process but claimed that she was still in the process of processing it when the couple sold their baby. Abia State police commissioner Anthony Ogbizi, who paraded them alongside other criminal suspects, lashed out at those involved in the criminal act and wondered if they have any consciences.

He urged people interested in adopting children in the state to follow due process, saying it is a criminal offence to buy babies. Selling babies has become big business across southeast Nigeria recently and in some cases, whole baby factories have been set up where women are paid to deliver children for sale.