Man attempts to sell baby for N150,000 in Calabar

A Federal High Court sitting in Calabar, the Cross River State capital has sentenced one Ifeanyi Kelvin Okorogu, from Imo Sate to 3 years imprisonment for human trafficking and attempting to sell a child. Okorogu was arraigned by the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) on a 2 counts charge under the Trafficking in Persons (Prohibition) Enforcement and Administration Act, 2015.

The Man and his accomplice were arrested on December 1, 2017 at the Margret Ekpo International Airport, Calabar by men of the Nigeria Immigration Service and transferred to the Uyo Zonal Command of the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) for further investigations and prosecution.

He was charged under Sections 13 and 29 of the Trafficking Prohibition Act. He harboured a 16year old girl and exploited her using her position of vulnerability. He further attempted to sell the victims baby at the sum of N150, 000 before he was arrested at the Airport.

Delivering Judgement on the case on Friday, Hon Justice Inyang Ekwo found Okorogu guilty of the offence and sentenced him on the 2 counts charge. He was sentenced to 2 years imprisonment on count 1 and 2 years on count 2. The sentences will run concurrently. The sentence is however, without an option of fine.

Reacting to this conviction, the Director-General of NAPTIP, Dame Julie Okah-Donli commended the Honourable Justice for the courage in handling the case. She however, called on traffickers to look for better things to engage in as the Agency will not spare anyone caught in the act of human trafficking.

Meanwhile, the Akwa Ibom State Police Command arrested Magnus Nsikak, 40, and his wife Ruth for selling their three children for N50,000 each in November, last year.

Nsikak and his wife allegedly conspired and sold their three sons, three-day-old Samuel, five-year-old Ubong and 10-year-old Ekpo to a trafficker in Aba, Abia State, through a nurse in Ikot-Abaji Local Government Area of the state.

Ruth, however, denied being part of the transaction, claiming that she was actually deceived by her husband into believing that their children were being cared for by a member of their extended family in Port Harcourt.

The couple are now in the custody of the Family Support Unit of the State Criminal Investigation Department, SCID, Akwa Ibom State Police Command, where they are being interrogated.