The Niger Delta has its share of the ‘baby factories’. SHOLA O’NEIL investigates the role of medical workers and desperate couples in the multibillion naira criminal trade.
Early last year, Mrs. Caroline Ojei (not her real name), accompanied a friend to a reputable chemist located off the popular Warri/Sapele Road in Warri, Delta State. She has been married for nearly four years and was yet to have child.
She was introduced to the chemist , which had gained a reputation among women in the Oil City as a wonder clinic where women seeking fruit of the wombs get their desires and , sometimes, determine the sex of the baby.
“My friend told me that there is a ‘doctor’ there who could help me and I would be pregnant within months. I met this friend during my search for a child and the next time I saw her she was ‘pregnant’. I asked her how she did it.”
The decision would open the eye of the woman (in her late 20s) to the scary world of a powerful child trafficking ring, which activities and influence spread across the length and breadth of the country – from Benin through Warri to Port Harcourt, Enugu and up to Abuja and God knows where else.
Mrs Ojei appealed not to be identified by her real name because of fears of deadly backlash from the operators if they knew she was the one that gave out their secret.
When she got to chemist, she met dozens of women of all ages waiting to see the ‘doctor’, who our investigations revealed was a pharmacist. Although he is believed to be working with a Port Harcourt-based syndicate that specialises in the sale of babies to desperate women, he has never been arrested or tried because none of the victims were willing to go to the police with their tales.
Our findings revealed that the pharmacist was working outside the knowledge of the owners of the reputable medicine shop.
Babies for sale
Our investigation revealed that the ring includes a baby factory section where young girls, who either got impregnated by studs for the purpose or through illicit affairs, are lured for a fee as low as N50,000.
“His job is to meet the demands of those who want babies with factory owners,” a source said.
Several ‘factories’ were uncovered in Imo and Abia states in the East. Sixteen expectant mothers, including teenagers from Rivers, Akwa Ibom, Enugu and Abia states, were rescued after a raid on Cross Foundation International, an NGO, by DSS operatives in Aba, in June.
Our investigation revealed that operators sell a male child from N100,000 to N2 million and a female child fetches between N80,000 and N1.5 million, depending on buyers and sellers.
In some cases, very rich clients choose surrogate mothers, who are impregnated and kept in luxury for the duration of the pregnancy till they are delivered of the babies.
“In this case, the carrier of the baby could make as much as N500,000 to N2m, depending on the sex of the baby and what the buyer is able to pay,” our source, who is a medical doctor, said.
A gynaecologist in a popular hospital Benin City, Edo State expressed concern about the trend. He said one of his patients recently told him that she was carrying the baby in her womb for a rich client.
“She said she would be paid N500,000 and that she was just waiting for the pregnancy to get to three months before moving into a well furnished apartment arranged for her in Abuja where she would stay before delivery.
“I was shocked, to say the least, because this is a graduate who is on youth service. She was so unremorseful and was even looking forward to delivering the child so that she would cash the cheque written in her name,” he said.
The mothers are not always willing clients like the youth service girl. In other instances, the babies sold are stolen – sometimes at gunpoint – by midwives or ‘prophets’ of churches where the children are delivered.
In December 2011, a baby was stolen from a church, Divine Encounter Holy Ghost Ministry, in Nkpor village , Rumuolumeni, Rivers State, barely five minutes after she was born. The child was born to a Mrs Sunday, whose quest for ‘divine protection’ took her to the church run by Pastor George Brown.
The baby girl, Miracle Sunday, later turned up in the home of a couple in Choba, Port Harcourt. The couple was celebrating the ‘birth’ of their miracle baby 25 years after marriage when the police busted them. Pastor Brown and a nurse, Madam Blessing Egbune, who were arrested for masterminding the sensational baby theft, led the police to the home of the couple.
It was gathered that prior to the celebration, neighbours had noticed that the belly of the aged woman was protruding and she had all the signs of pregnancy.
“It was not surprising to us when the woman returned before Christmas with a baby girl that she just delivered because we thought she was pregnant. Even when the police came we were willing to stand by the woman, until we heard the true story,” Chika, who said she attended the ‘baby shower’, told our reporter.
“How did she do it?” Chika wondered.
False pregnancy
Shortly after Caroline Ojei started the treatment, she said she stopped menstruating. Her belly got bigger, her breast became fuller and her face and neck puffed up and she also started suffering bouts of ‘morning sickness’.
“My husband (an officer in the state Civil Service) and I were overwhelmed with joy. I could not wait for my pregnancy to complete the first trimester so that I could go for a scan to ascertain the sex of the baby. Whether it was male or female didn’t really matter to me, I just wanted to do what other women do. I waited years for it,” she recalled.
However, the reality of her situation dawned on her when after three months she approached her ‘doctor’ for advice on the scan. “He acted suspicious and said I cannot go for scan because nothing would show in the scan. He said my pregnancy was through a special technology and that such babies don’t appear in an ordinary scan.
“He said when scan becomes necessary, he would tell me and personally take me to the special clinic where it would be conducted. My friend, which was way ahead of me, also confirmed that it was the practice there. In fact, she had not scanned even though she was seven months pregnant.”
When she became agitated over the situation, she said her friend became angry and scolded her for being an ‘over sabi’ (too inquisitive).
Worried by the new twist, Caroline, who is a graduate, began investigating the ‘new technology’.
First, she took the drugs she had been taking to another pharmacist, who told her that she had been taking steroids and other drugs, which have dangerous side effects.
Confirming this, a medical practitioner and Chief Medical Officer, International SOS Nigeria, Dr. Henry Omaduvie, said: “It is true that people could wrongly and criminally use drugs like prednisolone for that purpose (mimic pregnancy).
“For those who will want to benefit from the side effects of the drug to mimic pregnancy by using prednisolone probably in combination with other drugs.
“(They) might want to wrongly and criminally benefit from the following side effects of steroids which include: irregular and complete absence of menstrual bleeding, swollen face, legs and ankle due to the fluid accumulating property of steroids, weight gain and nausea.”
He said usage of such drugs lead to stoppage of menstruation as well as morning sickness like vomiting, headache and others similar to signs of pregnancy.
Nevertheless, he warned that the prolonged use of steroids without expert supervision should not be attempted because of its very dire consequences.
Rude awakening
When Caroline realised that she had been taken for a ride by the ‘doctor’, she said she was heartbroken and confused. In her anger, she went back to the chemist and raised a storm. She tried to convince over a dozen other women who were attending sessions that their ‘doctor’ was a fraud.
“Rather than listen to me, they went back to tell the man that I was spoiling his name and his ‘good works’. At a point, I became convinced that some of them already knew what the deal was. It was like a cult.”
She also got a call from the ‘doctor’ who threatened to deal with her if she didn’t mind her business.”
Further checks revealed that some of the victims were forced to go ahead with the scam because of shame and fear. Mrs Ojei’s friend, who refused to disclose her name, said she was in dilemma when she found out that her pregnancy was a sham because her husband, family and friends thought she was expecting a baby.
Another woman said she was “just weeks from buying another person’s child” before common sense kicked in. Her anxiety to add to the son she had nearly a decade earlier drove her to the ‘wonder clinic’.
“I knew after the first trimester that I wasn’t pregnant because I have been pregnant before and I know the signs – all were missing. When I confronted the man he told what I had to do if I do not want the disgrace.
“I needed a lot of money and my husband won’t give me close to N1m without asking questions and demanding cogent explanation. So I opened and told him the truth.”
She said her husband was aghast. “He said over his dead body. He would rather adopt than buy a child. Today, I am grateful to him (husband) for his position because after that debacle, God has given me my own child that I carried in my womb and delivered myself.”
Reflecting on her situation, she advised husbands to take more than passing interest in the affairs of their wives when they are pregnant.
“During that period, I met girls and even women who were taking these pills simply to fool their husbands or to lure their boyfriends into marriage. There was a particular lady, her boyfriend usually drops her off before going to work. But as soon as he leaves, she would walk out of the clinic and go back to whatever business she had. A man who takes great interest as my husband did will never fall prey to these criminals.”
Dire consequence
Dr. Omaduvie told Niger Delta Report that prolonged use of such drugs could have life threatening effect of users.
The International SOS Nigeria CMO warned that Prednisolone “must be used with caution and under strict supervision by a licensed physician as the side effects can be more than the anticipated benefit especially in prolonged usage”.
A former Chairman of the Nigerian Medical Association in Delta State, Dr Chuks Ossai, who was contacted, confirmed that he had heard of the activities of the criminal ring. He said the NMA was not aware of the activities of the ring in the state.
“What we heard is that there are places that people go to, especially in Rivers State to purchase those miracle babies, but we have not heard of any report in Delta State. What we normally do is when a clinic is established we usually investigate it to ensure that they are qualified doctors,” he added.
He said there is little the NMA could do about the ‘rumour’ until it gets a formal complaint about the activity of the ring in the state and involvement of medical doctors.
“What you should know is that there are many 419 going about these days. The NMA doesn’t take kindly to quacks. We have an anti-quackery committee that we can detail to investigate such report,” he added.
