Akin Kuponiyi

A 21-year old lady, Eunice Esther Aidoo, also called Esther Paul, has narrated before a Federal High Court, Lagos, how her newly born baby was traded for the sum of N200, 000, by someone she referred to as Aunty Tina.

Esther, a secondary school certificate holder, gave the  revelation during the trial of the said Aunty Tina whose real name is Tina Anyanwu, 46, her husband, Charles Chigozie Anyanwu, 50, and one of their relatives, Chiamaka Sylvia Anyawu, 23  before Justice Mohammed Nasir Buba led-court, on charges bordering on a five-count charge of conspiracy, child trafficking, and transacting in child trading, by the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking In Persons (NAPTIP) on Tuesday.

Also charged with suspects are Alice Nwoke Ogechi, 52, and the man who allegedly bought the newly born baby, Mr. Remigus Mbegbu, 50.

NAPTIP  had in the charge filed before the court alleged that the three Anyanwus had sometimes in the month of April, 2016, at Yahaya Street, Fagbile-Isheri, Lagos, conspired among themselves to sell the child of Esther Paul.

The three Anyanwus along with Alice Nwoke Ogechi, were also alleged to have sometimes in the month of May 2016, conspired among themselves to sell a child of one Ukachi Ukamaka Cynthia, to Remigus Mbegbu.

While Remigus Mbegbu allegedly bought the two children from Anyanwus and Ogechi in the same month, according to charges filed in court.

The offences according to the NAPTIP prosecutor, Mrs. Idayat Balogun, are contrary to sections 27(a) and 21of the Trafficking in Persons (Prohibition) Enforcement and Administration Act, 2015.

While revealing her ordeals before the court, Esther Paul said after giving birth to a baby at a hospital, Aunty Tina and some people whom she (Tina) introduced as NGO visited her in the hospital.

She added that the nurse who delivered of the baby consequently told her that she wanted to inject her so that she can be relieved of the pains she went through during delivery, but after she was injected she slept off, and by the time she woke up, she could not find her baby again.

She said when she asked the nurse about the baby, the nurse told her that Aunty Tina had taken the baby away for care.

The victim who was led-in-evidence by the prosecutor said on getting to Aunty Tina’s house on second day, Aunty Tina handed N200, 000, to her, and when she asked her what was the money for she told her it was from the NGO.

She added that from the N200, 000, given to her, she gave N55, 000, to Aunty Tina, which she said was for her hospital bill, and the sum of N5, 000, and N20, 000, to Aunty Tina’s daughter and husband respectively.

Apart from that, she also said that Aunty Tina told her to refill the gas which she used to boil water for her bathing, and gave her an order that she should leave their house after three weeks.

She however stated that it was not up to a week after the order was made that NAPTIP came to arrest her and the Anyanwus.

She also stated that before getting to NAPTIP office, Tina’s husband had told her to lie that the baby had died, and she complied, but when they went to the hospital where she delivered, workers at the hospital told the Agency that the baby was handed over to them alive, and it was then she told the Agency the whole truth.

She said currently, she did not know where her baby is.

During cross examination by the counsel to Anyanwus, the witness told the court that she started living with Tina’s family when she was six months old pregnant.

She also told the court that she packed out of her Aunty place after she got pregnant, and relocated to an uncompleted building, on the promise of Aunty Tina, who had promised to accommodate her.

The matter has been adjourned till June 22 and 23, for continuation of cross-examination, and continuation of trial.