A
Liberian, Daniel Barnney, is being held by the police for allegedly
selling his nine-month-old son Emmanuel to a 43-year-old woman, Ekah
Richard, for N250,000.
Barnney, one Pastor Samuel Osavitu and a
worker at an orphanage, Alhaji Sunkanmi Adamu, are being quizzed at
Festac Police Station over the matter.
Barnney’s Nigerian wife Ijeoma Ndoku raised the alarm over his plan to sell their son and flee to Ghana last month.
The police arrested Barnney at Mile 2 on February 12 and recovered the baby from Richard.
Ndoku said she and Barnney have been quarrelling because she did not allow him to take the baby to his aunt, who she never saw.
She debunked Barnney’s claims of abandoning the child, accusing him of fleeing with the boy on their way to buy groceries.
“It’s a lie! I didn’t abandon my baby.
He said he wanted to hand the baby over to his aunt. I said it was okay
since his aunt was now in Nigeria. I said it will give me opportunity to
look for a job and support the family because he has not been taking
care of us.
“For over three months, he has been
saying he does not have money to take care of me and my baby but he
usually had money to buy drinks and cigarettes. He could not even bring
out N150 for me to buy pampers for our baby. Even when I wanted to take
the baby to the hospital, I usually went and borrowed money; other
times, our neighbours will give me money to cater for the baby.
“He used to get drunk and vomit. When I
complained, he would bring out iron rod and hit it on my head. I fell
down once, tried to go and open the door, but he dragged me back.
“I didn’t know his plan was to sell our
baby. I said I wanted to see his aunt. He said if the aunt knows that I
am around, she wouldn’t collect the baby. He asked me if I wanted the
baby to die, I said no”, she said.
Ndoku said she learnt of Barnney’s plan to sell their son from his boss.
“She (the boss) told me that Daniel was
planning to sell my son for N150,000. She said that Daniel said after
selling the baby, he would leave for Ghana. I didn’t believe her.
“The woman said I should come back
around 4pm, so that I would hear the story from some of her assistants. I
told Daniel’s friend. He doubted the story too, so he followed me.
“It was in his presence that the woman
told us everything. She said she became curious and concerned after she
noticed Daniel was always with the baby. When she asked, Daniel told her
that I abandoned the baby and ran away. She asked for my number, so
that she could speak to me, but Daniel refused. That was when she knew
Daniel was lying.
“I told her that Daniel told me that the
baby was with his aunt. She said that was part of the reason she
withheld his salary,” Ndoku said.
Ndoku said on January 29, Barnney called
that he was coming to see his son, adding that when he came, their
neighbours were happy and advised her to forgive him.
To effect his plan to take away the baby, she said he tricked her that they were going to buy him things.
She said when she alighted from the motorcycle (Okada) that they took to enter a store, Barnney disappeared with the baby.
Barnney, 32, who admitted to have
received N250,000 from Richard through Adamu, said the money was given
to him to start a business.
He denied selling the baby, claiming
that his wife abandoned the child. He said since he could not cater for
the boy alone, he took him to an orphanage.
Richard, who claimed that she adopted
the child, said she never knew the adoption process was illegal. She
said she was advised by the pastor to adopt a child so that God can open
her womb.
But Osavitu, who denied conspiring with
others to steal the baby, said he was only trying to help Richard and
safe the child’s life.
He said: “I have known the orphanage guy
for almost nine years. He’s a good man. He’s the manager at the
orphanage. I used to go to the orphanage to preach there.”
-The Nation