"I have sold 20 children in two years" 22-year-old female child trafficker arrested in Anambra

A 22-year-old woman arrested by the Special Armed Robbery Squad (SARS) of the Anambra State Police Command has confessed to having sold 20 children since she went into child trafficking business. Most of the children she sold between N150,000 - N200,000, were kidnapped on their way home from school. The suspect, Chinaza Onwuasoanya was impregnated by her boyfriend in Lagos and returned to Anambra State to have the baby after which she sold the child to a 45-year-old woman, Goodness, who runs an orphanage, which the police allege was a cover for a baby trafficking operation.

Onwuasoanya sold her newborn baby girl to Goodness, in exchange for the sum of N150,000. On realizing that she could make easy money from selling children, she moved into child-trafficking. Recounting her journey into child-trafficking, Onwuasoanya told Sunday Sun, she said:

"I got into child trafficking two years ago. I have sold 20 male and female children to Madam Goodness who operates the orphanage. She paid me between N150,000 and N200,000 for each baby I sold to her. I got to know her when I became pregnant and gave birth to a girl on October 4, 2013.  After I delivered the baby, a friend introduced me to Madam Goodness. I took my daughter to her and she gave me N150,000.00, to take care of myself. After that time, I decided to go into child trafficking by kidnapping children coming back from school or getting them in the street. Then I would take them to Madam Goodness. And she would sell them between N150,000 and N200,000. But I was arrested on May 1, 2017, when I stole a set of twins at an estate in Onitsha and took them to my house. Suddenly the father of the twins traced me to my house and came with policemen and I was arrested."

Onwuasoanya who hails from Ebenebe, Awka North Local Government Area, Anambra State, also made more interesting revelations to the police while being interrogated. She confessed to being a member of the gang of robbers who killed two policemen, Inspector Shuaibu Usman and Sergeant Julius Matthew, of Police Mobile Force 29 in February, 2017 at Nkpor fly-over, Onitsha and took their AK-47 rifles, which were later used to commit robberies in Nkpor, Obosi, Ogidi, Nkpor Old Road, Awka, Oye-agu.

She also assisted the SARS operatives to arrest three members of the gang while the other six members escaped and are still at large. She disclosed that she was always given her own share of the money made during robbery operations, saying that she got between N50,000 and N80,000.

She is now regretting associating with armed robbers and engaging in child-trafficking.

“I have regretted what I did. My parents are alive. It was my friend who introduced to child trafficking and which led me to armed robbery today,"

The Commander of SARS, Supol Sunday Okpe confirmed that Ownuasoanya’s confession led to the arrest of three people alleged to be members of the gang. 

The suspects are: Ifeanyi Onwukwe a.k.a Nger, 22; Chidubem Osita a.k.a Kabaka, 23, and Chijioke Obi a.k.a Abababa, who is 23 years old.

Upon interrogation, Onwukwe confessed that they killed two policemen at Nkpor.

"We went with one vehicle and three motorcycles which we always used for our robbery operations. We always met at the football field at Nkpor to plan our strategies. The SARS operatives recovered an AK47 rifle from us. We used the AK47 rifle to carry out our operations."

Goodness who admitted to running an orphanage, which had 15 children, however, denied engaging in child trafficking.

"Students who got pregnant come to us to deliver their babies, and we take care of them. Also children whose parents died are brought to us too. I don’t sell children rather I take care of them. I have never known Chinasa Onwuasoanya in my life"

Source: The Sun

I sold my niece to reduce family’s financial burden –Suspect

A 28-year-old man identified as Godspower Emeka, who is currently in police custody in Abia State, has confessed that he sold his niece for N150,000 to raise money for his extended family’s upkeep.

 Emeke, a motorcyclist and father of three, said feeding his children and other members of his family had become burdensome to him and his father.

He told Southern City News that he reasoned that it would not be a bad idea if he sold one of the children in their family to raise money to feed others.

Emeka said,

“I’m a (commercial) motorcyclist from Umuokroukwu Omoba. The little girl is my niece and my elder sister is her mother. It started when one of my friends told me that he knew one barren old woman who wanted to buy a child.
“I then said since we are many, why can’t l give out one of our children to raise money to take care of the family? I thought the idea would reduce the load of feeding in our family on my head because we are 11 in number.
“I’m married with three children, while my sister has four children. But she is not aware that I wanted to sell her daughter. I’m begging everybody to forgive me; it was a temptation that came my way. I have not done this before”.

But Emeka’s accomplice in the crime; one Kelvin Ogbuigwu, said he (Emeka) contacted him to get a buyer of the three year-old girl.

He said,

 “Emeka told me that he has a sister, who is his father’s bastard daughter. He said his father was late and they could longer take care of the girl. He asked me if I had contact of someone that would adopt the girl and I told him that I had a contact.
“I contacted one Mr. Kekere in Omuma, Rivers State. Later, I took him to meet the man last week Sunday with the girl. Unfortunately, the woman, who was supposed to come and pick the girl at the sum of N150,000 couldn’t come that day. Then in the night, the police operatives came and recovered the baby.”

It was gathered that trouble started last Saturday when Emeka’s sister left her daughter in the care of one of her neighbours, Mrs. Oscar Angela, while travelling.

 Angela said Emeka came to her and claimed that his elder brother sent him to bring the girl to his house before she released her ( the girl) to him.

Angela said,

“The girl is my neighbor’s child; when her mother was travelling on Saturday, last week, she left the girl under my care.
“She said she would come back on Monday, I accepted and took the girl to my house. But as soon as she left, her younger brother (Emeka) came and asked me to hand over the little girl to him.
 “He claimed that their eldest brother sent him to bring the girl and I released the girl for him. But later that same day, they came back to my house to ask of the girl. I told them Emeka had taken the girl to his brother’s house.
“But they said it was not true and insisted that the girl was in my house. It was then that I started shouting and my other neighbours advised me to report the matter to the police. That was how I ran to Obehie Police Station to report the incident and they started the search for the girl immediately and rescued her at Omuma.”

The Abia State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Adeleye Oyebade, confirmed the arrest of the suspect and the rescue of the girl.

Oyebade explained that the command had intensified efforts towards arresting the suspected buyer of the girl, adding that suspects in police custody will be arraigned in court soon.

Northern youths give Igbos 3 months to leave the region

Some Northern Nigeria youth groups in Kaduna on Tuesday declared “war” against all Igbos residing in the North, demanding they leave the area within three months. 

In what they called a 'Kaduna Declaration' ,they also asked Northerners in the South-East to leave the area, before October 1 .
They said pro-Biafran activities of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB),“amount to a brutal encroachment on the rights of those termed as non-indigenous people residing and doing lawful businesses in those areas illegally demarcated and defined as Biafra by the Igbo.

The groups that signed the declaration include Arewa Citizens Action for Change, Arewa Youth Consultative Forum, Arewa Youth Development Foundation, Arewa Students Forum and Northern Emancipation Network, but it is unclear if known officials of any of the groups actually signed the document.
Below is the text of the declaration:

THE KADUNA DECLARATION BEING A JOINT POSITION PAPER ISSUED BY THE AREWA CITIZENS ACTION FOR CHANGE, AREWA YOUTH CONSULTATIVE FORUM, AREWA YOUTH DEVELOPMENT FOUNDATION, AREWA STUDENTS FORUM AND NORTHERN EMANCIPATION NETWORK ON THE IGBO PERSISTENCE FOR SECESSION 

June 06, 2017

PREAMBLE

The persistence for the actualization of Biafra by the unruly Igbo of South-Eastern Nigeria has lately assumed another alarming twist which involved the forceful lockdown of activities and denial of other people's right to free movement in the South-East by the rebel Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) and its overt and covert sponsors. 

This latest action and similar confrontational conducts which amount to a brutal encroachment on the rights of those termed as non-indigenous people residing and doing lawful businesses in those areas illegally demarcated and defined as Biafra by the Igbo, are downright unacceptable and shall no longer be tolerated. 

OBSERVATIONS

Concerned by this persistent Igbo threat to national integration, the above-namedPan-northern groups met with several others and reviewed the current position of the North and jointly came up with the following observations:

1. IGBO PROVOCATION

a. The Igbo people of the South-East, without remorse for the carnage they wrought on the nation in the 1960s, are today boldly reliving those sinister intentions connoted by the Biafran agitation that led to the very first bloody insurrection in Nigeria's history.

b.  Emboldened by the apparent indifference of the Nigerian authorities, the Igbo secessionist tendency is widening in scope and action at every stage, with adverse effects on the law-abiding people of other regions residing in or passing through the East, while the Igbo leaders and elders by their utterances and direct action or inaction appear to support and encourage it.

c.  This is happening irrespective of the undisputable fact that:

i.  The cruel Igbos have done and are doing more damage to our collective nationhood than any other ethnic group; being responsible for the first violent interference with democracy in Nigeria resulting in a prolonged counter-productive chain of military dictatorship.

ii. The Igbos similarly orchestrated the first, and so far, the only civil war in Nigeria that consumed millions of lives and sowed the seed of the current mutual suspicion and distrust.

iii.  The Igbos are also responsible for Nigeria's cultural and moral degeneracy with their notorious involvement in all kinds of crimes, including international networking for drug and human trafficking, violent robberies and kidnappings, high-profile prostitution and advanced financial fraud.

iv.  At the peak of the devastating Boko Haram violence in some parts of the North, available records show that the Igbo people have variously been apprehended while attempting to convey catches of dangerous arms and ammunition to the troubled regions.

v.  There are today sufficient reasons to suspect that some Igbos masquerade as Fulani herdsmen to commit violent atrocities across the country in order to cause and spread ethnic disaffection.

vi.  It is also on record that since the inception of the current democratic dispensation, the Igbos have shown and maintained open contempt and resentment for the collective decision expressed by majority of Nigerians at various stages via generally acceptable democratic processes.

2.  DOCILE NORTHERN RESPONSE

a. While these provocative acts of aggression persist and grow in dimension with each new move, leaders of the North whose people are at the receiving end of the threats, appear helplessly unperturbed.

b. Rather than endorsing a concise framework for pre-emptive action to protect and safeguard the interest of the North and its people, leaders of the region at every stage tend to seek the cover of a flimsy and long-discarded excuse of having fought in the 60s to keep Nigeria united.

c.  Without pursuing a resolute action-plan, these northern leaders have adopted and have been dragging its people into a pitifully pacifist position in order tosustain an elusive national cohesion that has long been ridiculed by the Igbos.

OUR STAND

1.  From today, June 6, 2017, when this proclamation is signed, the North, a critical player in the Nigerian project, hereby declares that it will no longer be disposed to coexisting with the Igbos and shall take definite steps to end the partnership by pulling out of the current federal arrangement.

2. This conclusion is necessitated by the realization that it since ceased to be comfortable or safe to continue sharing the same country with the ungrateful, uncultured Igbos who have exhibited reckless disrespect for the other federating units and stained the integrity of the entire nation with their insatiable criminal obsessions.

3.  Rather than certain sections holding the whole country to ransom at every stage, each should be allowed to go its own way as we categorically proclaim today that the North is fed up with being the same country with this pack of acrimonious Igbo partners.

4.  The North hereby openly calls on the authorities and other national and international stakeholders to acknowledge this declaration by taking steps to facilitate the final dissolution of this hopeless union that has never been convenient to any of the parties.

PRELUDE TO FINAL SEPARATION

1.  RECOVERY AND CONTROL OF LANDED PROPERTY

As a first step, since the Igbo have clearly abused the unreciprocated hospitality that gave them unrestricted access to, and ownership of landed properties all over the North, our first major move shall be to reclaim, assume and assert sole ownership and control of these landed resources currently owned, rented or in any way enjoyed by the ingrate Igbos in any part of Northern Nigeria.

Consequently, officials of the signatory groups to this declaration, are already mandated to commence immediate inventory of all properties, spaces or activity in the north currently occupied by the Igbos for forfeiture at the expiration of the ultimatum contained in this declaration.

In specific terms, the groups are directed to compile and forward an up-to-date data of all locations occupied by any Igbo in any part of Northern Nigeria including schools, markets, shops, workshops, residences and every other activity spaces.

 2.  RELOCATION NOTICE

Secondly, with the effective date of this declaration, which is today, Tuesday, June 06, 2017, all Igbos currently residing in any part of Northern Nigeria are hereby served notice to relocate within three months and all northerners residing in the East are advised likewise.

3. ENFORCEMENT

All northern civil society and pressure groups are by this declaration mandated to mobilize for sustained, coordinated campaigns at their respective State Government Houses, State Houses of Assembly, Local Government Council Secretariats, and Traditional Palaces to mount pressure for steps to be taken to ensure enforcement of the directives contained herein.

CONCLUSION

In conclusion, we are hereby placing the Nigerian authorities and the entire nation on notice that as from the 1st October 2017, we shall commence the implementation of visible actions to prove to the whole world that we are no longer part of any federal union that should do with the Igbos.

From that date, effective, peaceful and safe mop-up of all the remnants of the stubborn Igbos that neglect to heed this quit notice shall commence to finally eject them from every part of the North.

And finally, all authorities, individuals or groups are hereby advised against attempting to undermine this declaration by insisting on this union with the Igbos who have thus far proved to be an unnecessary baggage carried too far and for too long.