Afeez Hanafi
A pastor at the Divine Yard Deliverance
Ministry in Iyana Iyesi, Ota, Ogun State, Peace Udoh, has been arrested
by the police for allegedly running a baby factory in the church.
The 47-year-old was said to have sold 64
babies before she was arrested on Sunday by operatives from the Lagos
State Police Command who acted on a tip-off.
Udoh was apprehended with one Angela
Akpan and a nurse, Mrs. Bukola Ajala, who reportedly assisted in
childbirth at Udoh’s church.
the
pastor usually referred complicated cases to the nurse, whose clinic –
El Shaddai Hospital – is located a few metres away from the church.
Our correspondent gathered that Angela’s
younger sister, 17-year-old Goodnews Akpan, recently gave birth to a
child at the clinic.
Angela, who was arrested on Saturday in
the Sango area, was said to have led police operatives on Sunday to
Udoh’s church and Ajala’s clinic, where they were picked up
respectively.
While parading the suspects on Monday at
the Lagos State Police Command headquarters in Ikeja, the Commissioner
of Police, Fatai Owoseni, said detectives swooped on the syndicate after
receiving intelligence report that Udoh needed a buyer for Goodnews’
baby.
“The suspects run a baby factory in the
Sango Ota area. We are still working to get 64 other children she has
sold out,” the CP added.
However, the pastor, who hails from Akwa
Ibom State, refuted the allegation, saying she used the church as a
maternity home to assist her pregnant church members for a token.
She said, “I have been a pastor for 13
years. I only assisted my church members during childbirth. I take
delivery of 13 to 15 babies every year and I have handled over 60 cases
so far. I don’t sell the babies.
“Whenever I have a complicated case, I
refer the patient to the nurse and we share the money she collects for
the service. Angela brought her sister to me in July. She gave birth on
November 16 at the nurse’s clinic and she was discharged. I was
surprised when the police came to arrest me yesterday (Sunday).”
Ajala, the nurse, said she collected
between N15,000 and N17,000 for each child delivery, adding that she
didn’t know anything about selling of babies.
The third suspect, Angela, said, “I am
from Abak in Akwa Ibom. I took my sister from our village to the pastor
when her pregnancy was four months. She was there until she gave birth
in November and I paid N17,000. I didn’t intend to sell her child and I
have never sold any child before.”
Goodnews, a secondary school dropout,
told our correspondent that she was not aware of the plan to sell her
baby. She said she followed Angela to Lagos to avoid being ridiculed in
the village.
“I got pregnant in the school but none of my boyfriends was willing to take the responsibility for the pregnancy.
“My mother would not allow me stay with her so I decided to follow my sister to Lagos,” she added.
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