Chidi Nkwopara
6 October 2009
Owerri — Imo State Police Command has arrested five persons, including the Medical doctor in charge of Ahiazu Mbaise General Hospital, Dr. Gordian Nwambara, for alleged child theft. The child was allegedly sold for N342,000.
Briefing the press on the incident, the Area Commander of the Nigeria Police, Okigwe, Mr. Paul Aliu, an Assistant Commissioner of Police, gave the names of the other arrested persons as Euphemia Alagor, Ann Nwangwu, Justina Uwakonye, Nkeiru Maduka, adding that Ijeoma Uzochukwu is still at large.
"The stolen baby boy was harboured by Dr. Nwambara for two days before Mrs. Oluchi Ihechigbo sent her cousin, who paid and collected the baby", he said.
According to Aliu, "Dr. Nwambara and Euphemia Alagor, who is a staff of Okigwe Local Government Area but claims to be a social welfare officer, were into an illegal child adoption business".
He said investigations showed that the couple had confidence in the medical doctor and did not bother to ask of the source of the baby, adding that when they asked for the documents to back up the adoption, Nwambara told them not to worry.
Meanwhile, the Chief Magistrate Court 1, in Okigwe, had surprisingly adjourned the matter to December 8, 2009, and ordered that the baby should not be given to the mother but should be taken to the Motherless Babies Home.
"The police has not obeyed this order because the magistrate refused to sign any warrant to this effect and simply adjourned the matter in his chamber to December 8, 2009", the Area Commander added.
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2009 Vanguard. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
