Shock could best describe the expression on the
faces of members of the press as they listened to the confessional statements
made by 50-year-old Oby George, over the role she, and other members of a
baby-for-sale syndicate, played in helping women deliver babies.
Making the confession recently in Lagos, at the
state Police Command, the Port Harcourt-based woman, who had been in the
business for over a year, confessed to having helped women deliver countless
number of children through a very questionable method. This she does after she
is been paid between N1,500,000 to N3,000,000, depending on the sex and number
of babies her clients requests for.
Waterloo
The bubble, however, bust when a 61-year-old
Lagos-based woman, identified as Cecilia Adesope, who was allegedly delivered
of a set of twins at the Port Harcourt delivery centre, was arrested by the
police in Lagos, when she took the babies to a hospital for inoculation.
Embattled Oby said: “I am now ready to talk,
because it seems we are hiding something here. Cecilia was brought to me by one
Mr. and Mrs Peller. No… she was brought to me by Mrs Okoro, who is now at
large. She has been treating her, and she pleaded with me to help her deliver a
set of twin babies. That all her life she has not had any child of her own,
that she is desperate.
“Mrs Okoro told me that we should use my apartment
since her husband was around and she does not want him to know about this
issue. So I agreed and N1,500,000 was paid into my account for the job. On her
due date, she travelled down to Port Harcourt and we all went to my place. I
gave her some herbs to chew after which she went to the toilet, when she got
out, we asked her to lie down and push with all her might while I held her
hands.
“At a point, we used a razor blade to give her some
tear so that blood will come out and make the whole thing look real. Mrs Okoro
then brought the babies, whom she had arranged from somewhere. That was when
mama heard the cries of babies.”
Mother’s story
Asked how she met Mrs Okoro and where the babies
were brought from, Oby told newsmen that she knows Mrs Okoro very well, as both
of them work together in ‘helping women deliver,’ but declined to give any
information on where the babies were brought from.
On her part, Cecilia Adesope, told newsmen that she
was brought to Oby by a woman still at large, believed to be Mrs Okoro, who had
told her Oby would be able to help her. She said she was asked to go to Port
Harcourt for delivery after she paying N1,500,000.
Cecilia said she was given some herbs after which
she noticed her stomach getting bigger and she was convinced she was finally
pregnant.
She said: “When I got to Port Harcourt for delivery
on the date I was given, I was given something like a seed to chew. After I
did, I felt like going to the toilet. When I got out of the toilet, I was asked
to lie down and push with all my power.
“After that, I heard cries of babies. I also
noticed some blood on my private part, and was given a pad to use. I did not go
to the hospital during the pregnancy period, because I was instructed not to do
so, as the hospital scan will not see the babies.
“When I returned to Lagos with my set of twins, I
decided to take them to the hospital for inoculation injections. I don’t know
what went wrong, but while we were waiting for the injection, the police came
and arrested me.”
Another expectant ‘mother’
Also paraded was 43-year-old Joy Ibe, a supposedly
pregnant woman, who lives at Ajah area of Lagos.
She told newsmen she has been married for 18 years
without any issue, a dilemma that sent her everywhere seeking for the fruit of
the womb, until she came in contact with Port Harcourt-based Oby Gorge.
Joy told newsmen how she met Oby, and what
followed: “One of my neighbours visited Nigeria and heard about Oby. After she
travelled back to the Unites States, she sent me Oby’s number and asked me to
contact her if I am interested.
“I called up Oby and told her my problems. She gave
me her address to come and meet her in Port Harcourt. When I got to there and
met with her, she gave me some herbs, which I took and returned to Lagos. After
sometime, I noticed that my stomach started getting bigger, and I believed I
was pregnant.
“I was also asked to come to Port Harcourt when I
am due to deliver. I have not gone to the hospital for scan, because the
instruction given to me was that the scan will not be able to identify the
babies in the womb. I paid her N2,700,000 for triplets.
Signs of pregnancy
“The only signs I have as a pregnant woman is my
swollen stomach and legs which you can see. I still see my period sometimes.
“On the day I was arrested by the police, Oby had
invited me to Port Harcourt for check-up, so she could ascertain if I am due
for delivery. I went and she checked me. After that she said I was not due,
that I have to wait for a little longer.
“But because it was late for me to travel back to
Lagos that very day, she said I should pass the night at her house. I obliged.
That was when the police came and arrested us. From what I am seeing right now,
I don’t believe that I am pregnant despite my swollen stomach and legs.”
I think I’m pregnant
Information made available to members of the press
by the Public Relations Officer, Ngozi Braide, revealed that it took a while
for Cecelia to be convinced that she did not actually deliver the babies, going
by the supposedly pregnancy period and delivery experience she had.
It was also gathered that the babies have been
taken to one of the orphanage homes in Lagos.
