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  • OGUN BABY FACTORY: They have returned!

    OGUN BABY FACTORY: They have returned!

    A baby factory was discovered in Akute , Ogun State, last month , while some suspects were arrested and the girls were  rescued the State government .But the  Akute community are now crying  out that they are sighting one of the arrested suspects and the business has continued .Taiwo Abiodun was there

    At a month ago a baby factory was smashed in Akute, Ogun State. The brain behind it, a self professed medical doctor was arrested along with his gang while about eight under aged pregnant girls were freed. Two of the pregnant girls have since been delivered of their babies under the Ogun State government custody.

    However, a month after the discovery of the said baby factory  and arrest of those behind it, the suspects are back again, and the community is getting worried that one of the  arrested suspects called Obinna has returned to carry on the illicit  business by making sexual advances to  teen aged girls in the area. According to the residents of the community, the sealed building is  now accessible to the suspects.

    The home, 9 Tunde Sebanjo Crescent, Akute had been raided by the police and eight pregnant girls who were inmates along with one Emmanuel Chigozie Elesuwa, who claims to be a medical doctor.  The pregnant girls were being groomed with a plan to sell their babies at delivery for two thousand dollars.

    According to the police, some of the girls had confessed that each newborn child will be sold for N300,000 ($1,800/1,300 euros),” and had promised that the suspects will be charged to court at the end of their investigations.

    Now a free man

    But almost a month after, the residents  of Akute said they are now living in fear of reprisal for reporting them and giving information to the police. They  said they don’t feel safe if they could be seeing a suspect who was  caught and arrested but now  parading  the street and moving freely in their environment as a free man.

    “We thought they should be in police custody but here we are , they are seen everywhere and one of them still comes here and behaves as if nothing had happened” Madam Sherifat Bello told The Nation.

    According to Madam Bello who lives next to the building, “We didn’t know what they were doing in the building until the secret was blown out. Last week, my daughter, 16, whom I sent on an errand  was returning around 7:30pm, she said she  sighted one of the arrested suspects, Obinna,  who started calling her and made sexual advance to her but she had to pick race,  panting like a dog. That was how she narrated her ordeal to me. Another instance again was when she was in the kitchen upstairs, the said suspect,  was waving and beckoning at her again  inviting her to come down to their compound. My daughter  said she was beckoned at to come to them. She is not the  only one they were doing that to but many. My concern is that they should not take our children away to their native town.”

    She continued, “We have some people who are working in SSS who told us they might have  been released because the matter had been  taken to court so they had to release them on bail. Some said they used to see the man who called himself Doctor. His identity card’s photocopy is with our community leader, Kabiyesi. They don’t even come to the landlord’s association meeting. His doors are always locked, my daughter spotted the man. We could sight them from my kitchen, we live upstairs and could see their rooftops here. I saw one of the suspects opening their window curtains in the compound and other people who saw them said Obinna was seen lifting weight pretending as if nothing had happened. But my questions are ; have the police released them or where did they get the keys into the building if it is true that they had locked the place ?”

    Madam added, “We are all in fear here, we are not safe if they could release these people and they are walking freely with confidence.”

    Alhaji  Hadji Ahmed,  who should be in his 70s,  is a landlord in the area and is shocked at what is going on. He  decried a situation whereby their daughters are not safe in the environment where suspects are released  without prosecution and allowed to continue to perpetrate evil. He said “that is my house there (pointing), I live very close to the said building. Since people have been reporting to us that they have been seeing those arrested in the same vicinity and in the house where they were arrested then we are not safe please.

    He added, “those girls who were taken away had delivered. And one of the babies is christened Stella  while  the other was christened Amosun, but the fact  is that  we don’t want such people around here again, we also have children , who are females we don’t want these men here again , the federal and state government should assist us  in sending them  away.”

    Another young girl confirmed the fear of the elders and pleaded with the reporter ” lease oga don’t take my picture, they know me and could come and kill me .Obinna had committed havoc, no one is free to move around here between 6pm and night, they would call you to enter into their premises.”

    However, some of those interviewed did not want their pictures taken believing that the suspects could  come and unleash terror on them in the night, Sherifat , Alhaji and others said.

    The building is over 10ft tall. It is  about three plots and well fortified  with brick fence round. Added to this is strong and  barbed wires. No matter how tall one is, or how one jumps up to see the inside it is difficult to peep into the large and expansive compound to see what is happening there. On the walls of the building are words written with white chalk that they need male and female who need work with telephone numbers, however this again could be a ploy to recruit the unsuspecting girls and boys who would be mating with them.

    A woman who said she sighted Obinna said “He should be in detention instead of parading the streets. I saw him, I saw him reading a newspaper  pretending that nothing had happened. But others sighted him in the building and in the environs beckoning to school girls.”

    In fact, Madam Adebomi (surname withheld) said she couldn’t have suspected if not that one of the girls escaped and reported what was happening ” there is  no way one could know  what they are doing there except you are part of them and they are very secretive and don’t talk to people around since it is a Crescent and a quiet area as everybody goes on minding his or her business.”

    Alhaji  Ahmed  is still confused , he confessed  “I am confused that this man , Obinna who was hired to be having sex with them is coming here all the time  and he  still has the gut to  be calling young  girls. It shows that we are not safe in this environment!

    A lady who simply identified herself as Silifat said she saw one of the suspects ” the man was arrested along with his boss but he comes here in twilight and leaves around 5:30am , but  when asked why they did not challenge him many said it is the work of the Police to do that.”

    The community leader Oba Aleeh Idowu Akindele the Alakute of Akute said he is baffled that  one of the suspects is still found in the vicinity  where he and others were  accused of  crime. He said, “I am still surprised why these suspects are still lingering or hanging around  here. I was told  that they came again calling these girls  and making  sexual advances to them. We are now living in fear, our children are not safe and we cannot be living like this. We are appealing to the Ogun State government to help us put a final stop on all this. We are tired of these things “.

    The royal father brought out a tenancy agreement and the photocopy of identification  card of the  prime suspect with the following information: Government Of Abia State,  Dr. Emmanuel Chigozie  Elesuwa , Tel 08162285420, Office : Abia State University Teaching Hospital, Aba, Abia State

    According to Alakute, the man should be investigated to ascertain if truly he is a medical doctor and whether he has the authority of keeping teenagers at home and calling young boys to be having sex with them and paying them off!

    He added that the suspect  had been given quit notice since but he refused to quit. Showing a copy  of the quit notice, the community leader said “a copy of it was pasted  on its gate  but had been mischievously removed by one of the suspects.”

    With the reappearance of Obinna in the community the residents are now living in fear and begging the Ogun State police to rescue them before it is too late.

  • ‘Baby factory’ children named after Amosun

    ‘Baby factory’ children named after Amosun

    The Ogun State government has initiated moves to reconcile victims of the Akute ‘baby-making’ factory with their families.

    Two babies delivered after their mothers were rescued from the “factory” have been named after Governor Ibikunle Amosun.

    The state Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development is interfacing with Abia, Imo and Akwa-Ibom state governments on how the victims could be reunited with their families.

    The Commissioner, Mrs. Elizabeth Sonubi, told reporters at the Stella Obasanjo Children Home, Ibara, Abeokuta that her office had been exchanging correspondences with the Ministries of Women Affairs in the states where the victims hailed from, noting that one of them had actually signified readiness to receive its indigenes among them.

     ”Some of them have responded and they are now willing to have them and ready for repatriation”, she said.

    She said nine victims were actually hale and hearty. The babies delivered have been named King David Etimbok Omotoyosi Amosun and Queen Elizabeth Morayoninuoluwa Onyiechukwu Amosun.

    She enjoined the young ladies not to despair or be demoralised but should rather see their situation as the beginning of a new life.

    “Our mandate is to see to the survival and protection of the children and that is what we are doing. We are very caring in Ogun State. We are not taking you as criminals, but rather, as victims of circumstance, so I want you all to see yourpresent situation as the beginning of a new life. Plan your next step of action by returning back to school or try to learn a skill so that you would be useful to yourself, people and your state in the nearest future”, she said.

  • ‘I won’t sell my boy, even for a million naira, says Baby factory teenage mother

    ‘I won’t sell my boy, even for a million naira, says Baby factory teenage mother

    For seventeen years old Blessing Saviour from Akwa – Ibom State, the labour pains experienced last week before delivering her Baby boy at the state hospital, Ijaiye, Abeokuta has thought her few lessons – that motherhood is neither a tea party nor the fruit from it something to be traded off.

    She is one of the rescued inmates of a baby – making factory located in Akute, Ifo Local Government Area of Ogun State, where she was holed up along with eight others for the purpose of breeding babies for commercial gains by the captors.

    The Anti Crime team attached to Ajuwon Division of Ogun State Command of the Nigeria Police Force had last three weeks ago  following intelligence gathering, stormed a baby making factory where pregnant women were kept to produce babies for sales  and arrested the owner, Mrs Angella Chigozie,39, also rescued Blessing and eight other  pregnant girls of ages between 16 and 22 years within the facility.

    Two of the rescued pregnant girls joy Okoro(20)  and Blessing Saviour(17) were delivered of their babies at the state hospital, Ijaiye last week, a boy and a girl.

    But on Tuesday, Blessing said she would no longer sell her baby, christened King David Etimbo, Omotoyosi  Omo Amosun, even if someone offers her N1,000,000

    She expressed gratitude to Governor Ibikunle Amosun, the state Ministry for Women Affairs, the Commissioner, Mrs Elizabeth Sonubi and the Nigeria Police Force (NPF), Ogun Command for her rescue, care, support and safe delivery of her baby boy.

    Blessing spoke with reporters at the premises of the Stella Obasanjo Children’s Home, Ibara, Abeokuta, shortly after the naming ceremony of her baby by the Ogun State  Government.

    And the one named Queen Elizabeth Onyinyechukwu Morayoninuoluwa Amosun is born  by Joy Okoro(20) from  Imo State.

    Also, Joy who claimed she still has the link to the biological father of her barely ten days old baby, said she would not sell the girl again for any price, and urged girls of her age who are being abducted or lured into the illicit and criminal baby – making factory to speak out so that deliverance could come their way.

    Giving them the separate names eight days after delivery, Commissioner for
    Women Affairs, Mrs Elizabeth Sonubi, expressed the hope that the two should grow into becoming king and queen in the society.

    Mrs Sonubi counselled the teenage mothers to understand that God has purpose for their lives, saying now that they have delivered safely, they think of the possibility of going back to school or acquiring skills that would make them viable in future.

    Sonubi said: “you have opportunity to live a new life, you can go back to school or go into business and be a model to others.”

    According to her, the two mothers and seven others awaiting delivery  would be handed over to the government of their respective states – Imo, Abia and Akwa – Ibom.

  • Another baby factory discovered in Ogun

    Another baby factory discovered in Ogun

    THE end came yesterday for the operators of a suspected baby factory in Ogun State. The Police rescued five children and three expectant teenagers in Abeokuta, the state capital.

    The police also arrested the wife of the suspected operator.

    Thousands of angry residents of Akinremi Estate in Adigbe, Abeokuta thronged the compound to catch a glimpse of the rescued victims. Many of them were surprised at the discovery of the factory in their neighbourhood.

    A detachment of policemen from Adigbe Divisional Police Headquarters, had a hectic time containing the angry youths who protested by setting the building on fire.

    Also torched were two vehicles; a Toyota Camry salon car marked (Lagos) EKY 942 AJ as well as a Mitsubishi salon car marked (Lagos) AGL 971 BH parked within the premises. It took the intervention of officials of the Ogun State Fire Service to put out the fire.

    It was learnt that one of the expectant teenagers had escaped from the factory earlier taking refuge in a building located about 200 meters away, She pleaded with the occupants to save her from her captors.

    The teenager, it was gathered, confided in her helpers that her sister sold her and her unborn baby to the operator of the facility at N100, 000. The residents informed the police before the raid was carried out.

    The irate youths said to be students of Moshood Abiola Polytechnic while searching the building discovered several fetish items, international e-passports and identity cards of Junior and Senior Secondary School pupils of Sacred Heart Catholic College, Oke -Ilewo suspected to have been abducted and killed by “ritualists”.

    The Command’s Deputy Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Abimbola Oyeyemi, who confirmed the incident said two persons were rescued. Two others were arrested.

    Oyeyemi, an Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP), gave the names of the rescued victims as Jennifer Goodluck, who is still nursing a two months’ old baby and another lady that is in advanced stage of pregnancy.

    The Command’s Commissioner of Police, Ikemefuna Okoye and Commissioner for Women Affairs, Mrs. Elizabeth Sonubi visited the scene to assess the situation. They pledged that the girls will be rehabilitated.

  • Police burst baby factory in Ogun, rescue five babies

    The Police burst another baby making factory in Adigbe area of Abeokuta, Ogun state, Thursday afternoon and rescued five children and three pregnant women holed up in the facility by the operator.

    The Police also arrested wife of the suspected operator.

    Curious residents of residents of Akinremi Estate in Adigbe and environs surged into the compound, many scaling the perimeter fence to have a glimpse of the Baby factory that has been in their neighbourhood and operated for years undetected.

    A detachment of policemen from Adigbe Divisional Police Headquarters, Abeokuta, had a hectic time containing the crowed, which momentary went violent in anger, the youths among them torched the building.

    Also torched two vehicles; a Toyota Camry salon car marked (Lagos) EKY 942 AJ as well as a Mitsubushi salon car marked (Lagos) AGL 971 BH parked within the premise.

    It took intervention of officials of the Ogun state Fire Service who arrived the scene in two vehicles marked OG 124 A 09 and OG 122 A 09 put out the fire.

    It was learnt that one of the victims had escaped from the baby factory earlier and took refuge  in a building located about 200 meters away, pleading  with the occupants to save her from her captors.

    The escapee pregnant girl, it was gathered, confided in those shielding her from further abuse, telling them that her elder sister sold her and her unborn baby to the operator of the facility at the cost of N100, 000.

    Upon hearing the reprehensible occurrence, the people were said to have informed the police, who eventually carried out a raid on the premises Wednesday night.

    A twist crept in the baby factory saga, bring a ritual dimension to it,  as the irate youths who set the building ablaze were said to be looking  for a cooler and a can believed to contain fresh human bloods suspected to be in use for ritual purposes.

    According to a witness, the youths who were believed to students of Moshood Abiola Polytechnic after a thorough search of the building found ritual items such as ivory plate containing fresh blood, coffin, effigy, dried scorpions and assorted charms .

    Also discovered are international e-passport, identity cards of Junior and Senior Secondary School students of Sacred Heart Catholic College, Oke -Ilewo suspected to have been abducted and killed by suspected ritualists.

    When contacted, the command’s Deputy Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Abimbola Oyeyemi, who confirmed the incident said two persons were rescued, while two others were arrested.

    Oyeyemi, an Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP), gave names of victims rescued as Jennifer Goodluck, who is still nursing two months old baby and another lady that is in her full pregnancy.

    The Command’s Commissioner of Police, Ikemefuna Okoye and Commissioner for Women Affairs, Mrs Elizabeth Sonubi visited the scene to assess the situation.

    According Sonubi, the rescued girls would be rehabilitated.

  • Baby factory: Pregnant teenager delivers baby girl

    One of the nine pregnant teenagers rescued from a baby making factory at Akute in Ifo local government of Ogun state about two weeks ago, has delivered a baby girl.

    The Anti Crime team attached to Ajuwon Division of Ogun State Command of the Nigeria Police Force had last two Fridays following intelligence gathering, stormed a baby making factory where pregnant women were kept to produce babies for sales  and arrested the owner, Mrs Angella Chigozie,39, and also rescued nine pregnant women of ages between 16 and 22 years within the facility, including the one that just delivered.

    It was learnt that gathered that the pregnant teenager delivered a baby girl last Sunday at the State Hospital in Ijaye, Abeokuta, after a prolonged labour.

    The Nation learnt that the affected girl began to experience early signs of labour last March 25 and could not sleep during the night, and was observed to be restless and writhing in pains following what a source said could be the onset of her early stages of labour pains.

    She and seven others – all pregnant, and dressed in uniform adire (locally design attire) material with golden patches, were evacuated around 2:30pm a week ago in a Hiace Bus from Stella Obasanjo Children Home, Ibara – Abeokuta, where they were kept since being rescued.

    The girls were accompanied by two plain cloth policewomen and driven to one of the Police stations located at the Ibara area of the state capital.

    It was gathered that a request at the time by one of the officials manning the Stella Obasanjo Children Home that a medical personnel accompanies the girls, to monitor the one experiencing her labour, was turned down.

    The policewomen, The Nation gathered, had assured that the Ogun State Command of the Police is capable handling the situation.

    The Police Public Relations Officer, Olumuyiwa Adejobi, when contacted, also  told The Nation  that the Child and Human Trafficking unit of the Ogun State Command of the Police is capable and has enough qualified hands to handle the demands of child delivery should any of the  girls slip into labour any day.

    Adejobi, a Deputy Superintendent of Police(DSP) added that while further investigation is being conducted on the baby making factory and those retrieved from the place, the police is equally working to locate relatives of the rescued girls so that each of them could be re – united with their respective families.

    But last Sunday, the affected teenage girl puts to bed at the state hospital, Ijaiye, and this was confirmed by the Women Affairs Commissioner, Mrs Elezabeth. Sonnubi, but she denied further comment about it.

  • Police rescue eight teenagers from baby factory

    Police in Ogun this afternoon rescued eight teenagers serving as resource persons in a baby factory being operated at Ajuwon – Akute in Ifo Local Government Area of the State.
    The operator, a woman, was also arrested.

    The operation which was led by the Commissioner of Police, Ikemefuna Okoye, led to rescue of the teenagers – including 21 years old Vivian Princewill from where they were kept in Akute by the operator, 29 years old Angela Chigozie.

    The Commissioner of Police, Okoye, said the woman kept the girls for the purpose of bearing children for her which she would later sell to people.

    According to him, it said that the woman sell a child as much as N300000 or less and would give the teenage – mothers pittance out of the proceed.

    Confirming, Angela told reporters that a baby is sold for N300000 to an unidentified  woman, and that it is the girls that consult her for that purpose since she knows how to use herbs to assist women in respect of pregnancy

  • ‘Baby factory’: Court remands two suspects in prison

    The Federal High Court, sitting in Akure, the Ondo State capital, has remanded two suspects, who are on trial for alleged involvement in the operation of a “baby factory” in Ilutitun, Okitipupa Local Government, Mrs. Happiness Ogundeji and Mrs. Abiodun Ogundeji, in prison custody.

    Justice Mohammed Ishaq Sani gave the order yesterday at the hearing.

    Mr. Festus Keyamo, who led the defence team, said he filed bail applications for his clients on February 23 and 24.

    Keyamo prayed for consolidation of the bail applications.

    Prosecution counsel Chedu Ajaegbu filed a counter–affidavit and gave reasons why the suspects should not be granted bail.

    He said the first accused is facing similar charges at the Enugu and Imo states’ High Courts.

    Ajaegbu said the suspect committed the same crime in both states and relocated to Ondo when she was granted bail.

    Keyamo told the prosecution counsel to show the court evidence of the bench warrant against the first accused.

    Justice Sani adjourned ruling on the bail application.

    Ajaegbu told the court that he could not take the suspects back to Lagos until the court rules on the bail application.

    He said he brought them from Lagos and kept them in the custody of the Immigration Service.

    Ajaegbu requested that the suspect be remanded in prison custody and the court granted his request.

  • Ondo ‘baby factory’: 10 suspects arraigned

    Ten suspects arrested in connection with the illegal operation of a ‘baby factory’ in Ondo State were yesterday arraigned before a Federal High Court in Akure, the state capital.

    The suspects were arraigned on a 10-count charge, including “illegal adoption of under-aged children”.

    They were arrested at Ilu-Titun in Okitipupa Local Government Area on January 29 by men of the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) with the help of soldiers.

    When the security operatives stormed the “baby factory”, five expectant mothers, five nursing mothers, five babies, two of who were less than a month old, and eight men, “whose duty it was to impregnate the women”, were arrested and handed over to the National Agency for the Prohibition of Traffic in Persons and other related matters (NAPTIP).

    The suspects pleaded ‘not guilty’ to the charges.

    Their counsel, Dapo Agbede, prayed the court to grant them bail, but Justice Isaq Sani turned down the request, ordering Sani to make it formal.

    The case was adjourned till February 25.

    After the proceedings, a lawyer prevented reorters from filming the suspects outside the court.

    Mr. Dapo Agbede, who also represents the suspects, said his clients would apply for bail at the next sitting.

  • Ile-Abiye: An Ekiti ‘baby factory’ in pains

    Ile-Abiye: An Ekiti ‘baby factory’ in pains

    It used to be the hospital of choice for expectant women in Ado-Ekiti and environs for several decades, until 1979 because of its first-class services. Ile-Abiye in the Ekiti State capital is now a shadow of its glorious past, SULAIMAN SALAWUDEEN reports

    It goes popularly by the name Ile-Abiye, meaning house of safe delivery. Some, for lack of knowledge of the appropriate tonal sound of the Yoruba tag, do call it Ile-Abiye, meaning The Land of Safe Delivery.

    The hospital, established in the early 1930s and located close to the main road as one moves towards Ilawe-Ekiti at the Onigari GRA area of Ado-Ekiti, the state capital, used to attract patronage from across towns and communities in the then old Ondo State.

    According to the Hospital Secretary, Rev. Canon Joseph Ogunmilade, it used to be regarded as a first rate missionary hospital established by the Church Missionary Society (CMS) which later became the Anglican Church. But things went low somehow when in 1979, the then Ondo State government took it over alongside other missionary establishments.

    A cross section of elderly residents revealed that the hospital was a notable port of call for many needy individuals, especially expectant mothers, scores of whom safely put to bed there and many of whom now in their 90s and hundreds do recall with fond memories the quality of care they received in their child birth periods.

    One of such mothers of the time is today the 90-year-old, Alhaja Raliatu Ogunrinde, who, in an encounter with The Nation, reminisced glowingly about an establishment reputed to have ranked among the best in healthcare services in the country at the time.

    Alhaja Raliatu said: “We used to receive so much care that time that you would want to have another baby in a short period. There were many Oyinbo (Expatriate) doctors and nurses at the time and they would be everywhere to support us whenever we came to deliver.

    “Then, there was one Dr. Gem, who did not want to see any woman in labour for too long and there were so many nurses then. All of them would be going back and forth, carrying this and that to ensure things went well. The place was always filled with people. I had the first baby, then the second and then the third. I think I had my first five children at the hospital,” Alhaja Raliatu said.

    Also, 80-year-old, Mrs. Abigael Ibitoye reminisced about the hospital. She said was indescribable in the quality and promptness of services. According to her, although, there were always so many patients, each rushing for attention, everyone was being given the needed attention.

    Mrs. Ibitoye said: “I remember I had my first two babies.  The place used to be fine. So many babies were born in that place at that time. Some women who came to deliver at the hospital had been told elsewhere they would have to be operated upon. It was a great hospital.”

    Among the babies delivered in those bygone days are today notable bankers, scholars, medical doctors, teachers, successful business men and women, industrialists and politicians who have made their marks and registered their presence both in the country and outside.

    These include Chief Dele Falegan, a retired banker in his early 80s, Senator Babafemi Ojudu, currently representing Ekiti Central Senatorial District, former Senator Bode Ola and Prof. Femi Elegbeleye.

    A few others are Chief Bola Alegbeleye, also a retired banker, Dr. Funso Anisulowo, an Ibadan-based private medical practitioner, Hon. Taye Fasuba, former Chairman, Ado-Ekiti Local Government and Mrs. Amudat Adeleke, a teacher.

    Mrs. Adeleke, born about fifty years ago, recalled that she used to love following her mother to the hospital as a child then.

    She said: “I always loved following mama there anytime because the place was always filled with people. I was born there but I was not always sick. However, each time our mother was taking my brother there I always followed them. The nurses and doctors used to move very fast all the time. They were always serious,” she said.

    The situation lately

    But, today the fortunes of once boisterous Ile-Abiye has ebbed. While it still is a hospital, the patronage has dwindled seriously. There are a few individuals, mostly expectant mothers who are still patronising the hospital. Tales about the establishment are now often preceded with adjectives reflective of lost glories. First time visitors to the hospital may be left struggling to match the name and the environment which looked more like a deserted habitation than a hospital.

    Movements of human beings which are noticed at the place now and again are associated more with other activities within the environment than the hospital. The place now boasts of just one official vehicle, a Volvo Station Wagon 740, which serves essentially as the ambulance.

    Most of the buildings though painted looked more like relics of ages gone by; the doors looking as old as the hospital while most of the windows carry only the burglar proofs without the louvre blades.

    How did it happen?

    In his explanation, Canon Ogun-milade said the hospital suffered a setback when it was taken over by the Michael Adekunle Ajasin administration of the old Ondo State in 1979.

    Ogunmilade maintained that the authorities then also took over a number of missionary hospitals including Maria Assumpta and even some schools, adding “by the time Ile-Abiye was restored back to its founder, The Anglican Communion, in 1985, it had lost its glory as virtually all the facilities and the infrastructure had gone into disarray and the buildings had become dilapidated.

    “By then, the once vibrant hospital had fallen apart, it had become a ramshackle death center. The same situation also applies to Maria Assumpta which has also till date remained a ghost of its former self,” Ogunmilade said.

    He stated that other programmes which were of great benefits to the people and which were also being run by the hospital at the time, including a health outreach programme and school of nursing were not just discontinued by the then Ondo State government but had been totally phased out by the time it was restored.

    In his own opinion, the hospital Chief Medical Director (CMD), Dr. Pius Ovie, attributed the dwindling fortunes to other factors including the developments which followed the creation of Ekiti as a distinct state in 1996.”

    According to him, quality hospitals which are accessible and affordable for the people started to develop all over the state and government has since been ensuring improvements in the health sector, adding “what they had at the time were few compared with the number we have today in terms of quality hospitals,” he said.

    Ovie lamented that some of the few people who come for treatment are also not always ready or happy to pay for the services, however cheap such may be, noting “some people are so funny as to imagine this as a missionary establishment and that all services are rendered free.

    Emphasising the unpopularity of the hospital, Dr. Ovie said: “You often hear them saying “I am going to Ile-Abiye” or “Wait for me at Ile-Abiye”, but they refer to the place as an area not as a hospital. Some of them don’t even know today that Ile-Abiye means a hospital,” Ovie said.

    According to him, while Ile-Abiye used to deliver a minimum of thirty babies even in one day, the entire number of deliveries in the hospital even in a year lately is just about that figure.

    Ovie added that poverty among the people has remained a factor in the entire consideration, noting: “many of those who come here today say our charges are too much when our charges are not as high as half the charges of some other private hospitals around.

    “At times, from the looks you know those who can pay and those who cannot. Some would come with a big jeep and would claim not to have as little as N7,000. Though we charge, but our charges have always been moderate and modest,” Dr. Ovie said.

    Efforts at reversals

    Findings, however, revealed that efforts are on to reverse the situation for the better.

    While the CMD himself admitted that funding remains a major challenge to bring the hospital up to required standards, genuine commitments are being pledged by notable individuals some of whom have donated considerable amounts to undertake change.

    One of such, Chief Falegan, told The Nation that he has personally renovated the Children Ward, while a committee set up for the purpose by those who were born at the place had equally pooled resources to ensure upgrading.

    Other individuals including Senator Ojudu, Former Senator Bode Ola, and Dr. Anisulowo are all part of a committee spearheading the pooling of efforts to ensure that, according to Chief Falegan, the change that will be instituted will be genuine, total and lasting.

    Chief Falegan said, “Ile-Abiye is today a sad story. It started as a missionary hospital in 1930, but unfortunately it was taken over by a civilian administration. We have started making efforts to bring the place back on its feet.

    “Senator Ojudu, former rector, Prof Ajaja and some of those who had trained (born) there when things were going on well have promised to support the renovation. We have set up a Trust Fund and got N2,000,000 out of which we released N800,000 recently. Personally, I have done the children and the outpatients’ department,” he said.

    Corroborating Falegan, Ojudu, told The Nation that he had been supportive of the latest moves about changing the condition of the hospital.

    He said: “I was born in that hospital in 1961 and all my siblings as well. The place used to be very beautiful, well cultivated grasses, cultivated lawns and nNurseries for flowers.

    “When I was contacted for the project, I gave my widow’s might and I shall continue to be part of the processes to ensuring needed change at the hospital.

    The CMD has also added that efforts are in place to harness supports of the state government which he noted remained crucial and critical, adding that since the creation of the state, no government had supported the hospital.