Baby sold for N200,000 in Katsina found in Imo

A male child deliv­ered by 18-year-old Aisha La­wal who is known to hang around a brothel in Katsina but alleg­edly abducted and sold to one Grace Ohuhu for N200,000 has been found in Imo State.
Apart from Aisha and Grace who have been ar­rested by the police over the incident, three oth­ers – Ogugua Okoh, a 43-year-old senior nurse with the Federal Medical Center (FMC) Katsina; her friend, Joy Ihena­mere and one Hauwa’u Ibrahim, believed to be Aisha’s godmother who is camping her at the brothel, are also being detained by the police over the case.
In January, Aisha was delivered of a baby boy at the Federal Medical Centre, Katsina, where she was told she had a stillbirth and that the baby had been buried.
She hurriedly packed her things and left the hospital without settling her outstanding bills.
Trouble however started when a fracas ensued between Aisha and her godmother, Hauwa’u which led to the intervention of the Police. Little did they know that a can of worms was about to be opened. Hauwa’u had accused Aisha of doing the unthinkable by sell­ing a child she had out of wedlock.
The accusation led the policemen to probe further. According to the state Commissioner of Police, Abdullahi Us­man, Aisha was impreg­nated by someone she doesn’t know and after delivery, connived with her friend, Hauwa’u and a nurse, Ogugua Okoh, who linked them up to one Joy, to sell the baby for N200,000 to Grace Ohuhu.
“We traced Mrs Grace Ohuhu to far away Imo State where she was ap­prehended and the baby recovered,” the commis­sioner said.
Narrating her ordeal, Aisha who admitted she conceived the child out of wedlock, said she was assisted by Nurse Okoh to deliver the baby at the FMC, Katsina. “They told me that the child had died when I de­manded for it,” she said.
For Hauwa’u, Aisha was brought to her by someone she could not recollect anymore. She said the nurse helped with the delivery of the baby but that Aisha had been complaining and contemplating what to do with the baby. She alleged that Aisha had planned to dispose off the baby in the refuse bin.
However, Nurse Okoh said the duo ap­proached her when Ai­sha was seven months pregnant for an abor­tion which she declined. She pleaded with them to have a rethink as she couldn’t take part in the killing of an innocent baby.
She said it was at this point that “I pleaded with them to let me take care of the child because there’s a woman (Joy) who had always asked me to help get a kid for her sister to adopt.”
Okoh said, Grace, af­ter she was told of the situation, sent the first N50,000 to Aisha to help in buying clothes and for proper up keep of the child. She denied buying the baby, noting that, “I took care of the baby for over one month.”
On her part, Grace Ohuhu who had been married for 18 years without a child, said what they were sending to the nurse was for the up keep and not pay­ment for the child.
The baby, who had been named Victor, has been recovered, while the state commissioner of police said investiga­tion is still ongoing on the matter.-The Authority