An Onitsha Reverend Father has been arrested for abducting an 18-month-old baby in Osogbo, Osun state.
The priest, Rev. Father Chike Ejiofor of Our Lady of Fatima parish in Woliwo, Onitsha, Anambra State was arrested along other suspects.
The child was kidnapped from his mother and sold to an orphanage and the Priest believed to have unknowingly become an accomplice after a parishioner approached him that she wanted to adopt a child and he referred her to the orphanage the baby was sold to and even helped her through the process.
Among those arrested was 28-year-old Joy Esu. According to Punch, Joy approached the mother of 18-month-old Abdullahi Azeez at her shop in Osogbo and pretended that she wanted to learn tailoring so the mother accepted. Two days later, when the mother left her alone with the baby to go to the market, Joy ran off with the child who she then gave to her boyfriend Sidney Onwuka.
Onwuka, who has sold at least 6 children stolen by Joy, then sold baby Abdullahi to one Maxwell Agu, who claimed to be running a government registered orphanage at Orlu, Imo State. Onwuka said he had sold six babies to the operator of the orphanage, including his own child, adding that the operator paid him N200,000 for his child.
Joy alleged Onwuka used charms to manipulate her into doing whatever he wants because she has never been able to refuse him when he sends her to commit a crime, even though he never pays her a kobo for it. She added that she even sold her daughter to him and he didn’t pay her for it.