Hyacinth Chinweuba
One Mr. Kingsley Oriaku, 37, has been arrested for selling his one-year-old daughter to raise money for his mother in-law’s burial.
The suspect, who is currently being detained at the Special Anti-Robbery Squad, Lagos Command, disclosed that he sold his daughter, Nkechi, for N190,000 to a fake orphanage home operator based in Abia State.
Oriaku was arrested after he sold his neighbour’s seven-year-old son to the same orphanage for N120,000.
In his confessional statement to the police, the suspect admitted selling his daughter “without the consent of my wife.”
He said, “I know that what I did was not good, but then I was confused and didn’t know what to do. My wife is the first and only daughter and when her mother died sometime in September my in-laws gave me an outrageous bill. Confused and without knowing what to do, I took my daughter and handed her over to the owner of an orphanage. I got to know her through one of my friends. She told me that she runs an orphanage that buys children who do not have parents. I remembered her when I had the problem of how to raise money for my in law’s burial.
“I later had a problem with my wife when she found out that I left town with our child. She reported me to the police at Meiran. At the station, I admitted selling off our daughter. We later settled the matter between the two of us.”
The Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Edgal Imohimi, who paraded the suspect before mediamen said it was a clear case of abduction and child theft.
He said the two suspects, would soon be charged to court for abduction.
In a related circumstance, the Lagos State police command have arrested four suspected members of the dreaded Badoo cult gang for their alleged involvement in series of murders in Ikorodu and its environs.
While two of the suspects were arrested for their alleged involvement in the murder of a pastor with the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG) in the Ikorodu area of the state, the other two were arrested for the alleged killing of a woman and her two children at Agbowa village, a few kilometres from Ikorodu.
The suspects were identified as Ibrahim Anifowose, 28; Uche Igwe, Abdulrazaq Yahaya and Abubakar Tenimu. Anifowose and Igwe were arrested at their hideout on Aremu Street, Ojota, Lagos metropolis.
Two mobile telephones belonging to the victims were allegedly recovered from the suspects. Until he was murdered, the pastor, identified as Victor Kanayo, was in charge of Fingers of God Parish, Igbogbo, Ikorodu. The news of the pastor’s killing, which went viral on social media, described the deceased as a former member of a secret cult gang because of the tattoo on his body.
Addressing mediamen on the arrest of the two suspects, the Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Edgal Imohimi, said that on the day of the incident, the two suspects, along with two others who are still at large, invaded the pastor’s house.
Imohimi said that at the scene of crime, the police noticed that the suspects gained entry into the pastor’s house by cutting their way through the window.
He said that the detectives also noticed that a blood-stained stone, suspected to have been used in the murder, was found in the deceased’s house.
He said, “Detectives swung into action immediately. The undercover operatives traced the suspects to their hideout at Ojota, where they were arrested. The detectives recovered the deceased’s phone from the suspects.
“This will be the last time I will refer to the group as Badoo cult members. This people are hoodlums and murderers and should be referred to as such. I urge members of the public to see them as criminals.”
He said that detectives are on the trail of other members of the gang, stressing that all those arrested would be treated as murderers.
Imohimi also identified the killers of three members of a family as Yahaya and Tenimu. He said that they were arrested from their hideout at the Ibese area of Ikorodu.
He said that one Oluwasehun Johnson had earlier reported at the station that his wife Beatrice, son Joseph and one other were murdered by unknown persons.
According to him, detectives swung into action, during which they tracked the suspects to their houses. The team also recovered the deceased’s phone set from the suspects.