Shocking: Ihiala Man sells son for N500,000 to process travel documents

Children are bundles of joy to families. That, perhaps, explains why many parents who do not have the patience to wait on the Lord go the extra mile to get one anyhow.

But this was not so for a 27-year-old Okwuchukwu Ibekwem, a native of Umuaku, Ihiala in Ihiala Local Government Area of Anambra State. He had no reason to go extra miles as his marriage was blessed with children early enough.

 However, unlike every normal family that sees children as a bundle of joy, Okwuchukwu’s ambition to relocate from Nigeria would not allow him think straight as he purportedly sold one of his two children for just N501,000, approximately half a million, to process his travel documents to Dubai.
Chidera, a six-month old boy and victim of the alleged wicked deal is presently at large as the police had succeeded in arresting his father and a close friend but unable to reach the purported buyer of the baby boy.
According to investigations, Okwuchukwu was able to sell off the baby boy without a hitch but he was unable to bolt away before the long arms of he law caught up with him.
He was exposed by his wife who deserted him for a few days after a disagreement while his lawyer was assisting him to process his travel doc-uments.
He is being held by the police to give leading information on how to trace the boy and the buyer.
Available information also showed that Okwuchukwu who is a commercial bus driver in Lagos was alleged to have sold the six-month old baby identified as Chidera to an unknown person in Port Harcourt, Rivers State and gave part of the proceeds to his lawyer who was processing his travelling documents for him.
Speaking to our corre¬spondent inside a police cell in Ikeja, Lagos, the driver who claimed to be a professional auto mechanic confessed that he gave the lawyer the sum of N200,000 for the procurement of the documents and gave another N150,000 to his wife whom he identified as Oluchi for undisclosed reasons.
During interrogation, Okwuchukwu said he was a trained auto mechanic and that he abandoned his work¬shop at Ladipo Market follow¬ing alleged demolition of the place and resorted to commer¬cial driving to enable him eke a living.
Although he admitted that the boy was sold out, he how¬ever, denied any involvement in selling the son directly to the buyer.
Hear him: ‘’My name is Okwchukwu Ibekwe from Umuaku village in Ihiala. I have little misunderstanding with my wife, Oluchi. This is because she was fond of leav¬ing the house and returning home after three or four days.
“Sometimes in December, I can’t remember the date, she came back as usual and told me that she was directed by her father to return home.
“I asked why but she could not give any reason. She told me that she would be liv¬ing with the girl while the boy would remain with me. I couldn’t understand what she was saying but she left as stat¬ed.
“As a driver, I decided to keep the boy with one Chine¬lo who is now at large and left for work. But after three days, my wife called me on phone and asked me to forgive her for the decision and I said no problem.
“Two days later, my wife came back and started shouting at me, demanding for her son and that was how the po¬lice arrested me at my house at Shinaba Street, Ojo, Lagos.”
However, The AUTHORITY on Saturday gathered that the deal got burst when the lawyer processing the documents suspected a foul play in the words and actions of the suspect as he mounted pres¬sure on the lawyer to enable him escape.
A Chief Superintendent of Police at the Command Head¬quarters at Ikeja who spoke on the basis of anonymity said, another male friend of Chine¬lo who allegedly did the direct sale had been arrested and was in the cell at Ikeja.
The police officer said that the command had dispatched both plain-clothed and uni¬formed detectives to Ihiala to trail the prime suspect, Chine¬lo, but she got wind of the po¬lice move and escaped.
He added that the police had spoken with the lawyer whom the suspect contracted to process the documents and the lawyer had graphically ex-posed the move by the driver to sell his only son for money.
“It is unimaginable that a man could be so wicked to think of selling his son because he wants to travel abroad.
“He lives at No 23, Shina¬ba Street, Ojo and we are not leaving any stone unturned to arrest the buyer of the son and the principal suspect,” the po¬lice said.