Man arrested for selling 1yr-old daughter, one other for in-law’s burial

A 37-year-old man, Kingsley Oriaku, has been arrested for selling hisone-year-old daughter to raise money for his mother in-law’s burial. The suspect, who is currently being detained at the Special Anti-Robbery Squad, Lagos Command, disclosed that he sold his daughter, Nkechi, for N190,000 to a fake orphanage home operator based in Abia State. Oriaku was […]

A 37-year-old man, Kingsley Oriaku, has been arrested for selling hisone-year-old daughter to raise money for his mother in-law’s burial.

The suspect, who is currently being detained at the Special Anti-Robbery Squad, Lagos Command, disclosed that he sold his daughter, Nkechi, for N190,000 to a fake orphanage home operator based in Abia State.

Oriaku was arrested after he sold his neighbour’s seven-year-old son to the same orphanage for N120,000.

In his confessional statement to the police, the suspect admitted selling his daughter “without the consent of my wife.”

He said, “I know that what I did was not good, but then I was confused and didn’t know what to do. My wife is the first and only daughter and when her mother died sometime in September my in-laws gave me an outrageous bill. Confused and without knowing what to do, I took my daughter and handed her over to the owner of an orphanage. I got to know her through one of my friends. She told me that she runs an orphanage that buys children who do not have parents. I remembered her when I had the problem of how to raise money for my in law’s burial.

“I later had a problem with my wife when she found out that I left town with our child. She reported me to the police at Meiran. At the station, I admitted selling off our daughter. We later settled the matter between the two of us.”

The Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Edgal Imohimi, who paraded the suspect before mediamen yesterday at the Command Headquarters, Ikeja, said it was a clear case of abduction and child theft.

He said the two suspects, would soon be charged to court for abduction.