How Fake NGO Members Use Cancer Stricken Baby To Extort Money, Rape Her Mother
Emotion ran high, yesterday, at the Oduduwa office of the Lagos State
Police Public Relations Officer, Ikeja, after an indigent woman revealed
how she was raped by members of a non
existing Non-Governmental Organisation, NGO, which promised to help treat
her two-and-half year-old daughter of cancer.
The woman, identified as Victoria Anakor, told newsmen that members of the
non-existing NGO approached her in her home in Okija, Anambra State last
August, assuring that they could raise money with which to carry out a
surgery on her baby in Lagos.
Vanguard reports
She reportedly followed them, with the consent of her husband, to Aba. However, the true mission of the men, numbering seven, according to her, became clearer as they reportedly started soliciting alms on the streets with the child.
According to her:
"from Aba, we moved to Uyo, then Umuahia and Calabar. We left Calabar and
went to Abakaliki and then Lagos.They would ask me to stand on the road with
my child. People are
usually moved with
pity on seeing my baby with a swollen face.On several occasions, I have
asked them to give me the money realised in order to carry out surgical
operation on my baby. She has eye and mouth cancer, but they kept assuring
me that they would do that at the right time.”
On daily basis, it was gathered that the syndicate realised a minimum of
N30,000, but gave N1,000 to the
mother and child for feeding.In the
course of the illicit business, the woman claimed that one of the men
forcefully had carnal knowledge of her, in the aftermath of which she got
pregnant. She disclosed that she had to terminate the pregnancy with her
money.
Several attempts to convince her husband to allow her go back home failed
as her husband, according to her, always encouraged her to stay.
Unknown to her, member s of the syndicate had bought him a motorbike and
remitted N10,000 into his account every month.
One of the arrested suspects, Chukwuka Eze, said he abandoned his cart pushing business for alms begging with children.
Describing the business as very lucrative, Eze said:
One of the arrested suspects, Chukwuka Eze, said he abandoned his cart pushing business for alms begging with children.
Describing the business as very lucrative, Eze said:
“I used to be a cart pusher. I abandoned it when I met my master, Samuel
Ekpendu.He told me we could
make a lot of money by using children
with ailments such as cancer, epilepsy, burns and growths in any part of the
body to beg.We use children with
health conditions that will move
people with emotion. We do not use blind children because people do not
respond to them.We started by going into remote villages in the east to
search for poor parents with ailing children.
We came across two-year-old Chinasa, who has eye and mouth cancer. We
convinced the parents that we were working for a Non-Governmental
Organisation which cares for the sick and the girl’s father allowed the
child and mother to go with us.
N30,000 dailyWe took them to Onitsha where we lodged
in hotels. We made so much money but
before people would start suspecting us, we moved to Imo State from where we
moved to other places such as Uyo, Calabar, Abakaliki down to Lagos before
we were arrested.We made an average of N30,000 a day and paid N20,000 into
our director’s account. The business is lucrative because we paid N6,000
each day for hotel accommodation and
gave the child’s mother N1,000 everyday for feeding.”
However, N35,000 was recovered from the suspects, yesterday.
Lagos State police spokesperson, Ngozi Braide said
"What they do is to convince parents of these babies by giving them
promises of medical aid in the city. When they eventually bring the babies
to the cities, they use them to beg
for money on the streets just to
enrich themselves and they will never render the medical aid as promised.
The woman here and her child are victims. Her baby was diagnosed of cancer
of the eye.
“They brought them from Okija, Anambra State promising to take them to the
hospital since last August. They have
been using this two-year-old baby
to make money without taking
her to the hospital as promised.They put the mother of the baby in a hotel
and they would carry the baby to
the market place begging for alms
from unsuspecting Nigerians.”
The suspect, she said, would be charged to court for child trafficking,
contemporary slavery and other related charges, adding that effort was on to
arrest a fleeing member.
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