One baby, two mothers saga in Jos
Miss Ifunanya Eze, 20, was delivered of a baby on October 8 in Ultima Hospital, but alleged the baby was taken away from her by Mrs. Lilian Eze, 36, known as Madam Stainless because of a liquor shop she runs at Tina Junction. Samuel Udeh, 29, Ifunanya’s boyfriend, introduced her to Madam Stainless – who […]
Miss Ifunanya Eze, 20, was delivered of a baby on October 8 in Ultima Hospital, but alleged the baby was taken away from her by Mrs. Lilian Eze, 36, known as Madam Stainless because of a liquor shop she runs at Tina Junction.
Samuel Udeh, 29, Ifunanya’s boyfriend, introduced her to Madam Stainless – who was also pregnant – shortly after they started dating. She was already five months pregnant at the time and worked in the latter’s liquor shop in return for a meal ticket.
By some coincidence, both women delivered at the same hospital – Ifunanya close to midnight on October 8 and Madam Stainless some minutes after midnight on the same day. But Ifunanya alleged she was induced to give birth at that time, to coincide with her ‘Madam,’ a statement the hospital’s Medical Director, Dr. Peter Mbale, denied, insisting that the younger woman was brought to his hospital in established labour.
“We were both discharged and went home together but she locked me up,” Ifunanya said, sobbing. “She told everyone that she had a set of twins. However, when she felt that I will run away from her place, she took me to her sister, Ifeoma’s place, at Anglo Jos. The reason she gave for taking me there was that she didn’t want me to see my boyfriend anymore.”
But how did she leave? Ifunanya said she stole some money at Ifeoma’s place and transported herself to Samuel’s. There, she learnt he had already contacted a patrol team of Operation Safe Haven (OPSH) and also lodged a complaint at the police station at Nasarawa-Gwon, over her disappearance.
Samuel told Daily Trust that when he visited Madam Stainless to see his girlfriend, she told him that: “I should be asking you of Ifunanya.” This provoked him to invite the security operatives.
Ifunanya also went ahead to lodge a complaint at the police station, alleging both abduction of her baby and unlawful detention. She told Daily Trust her madam confessed before the police that she took custody of her child for protection and invited her own witness, a certain Mr. Smart, who had been Ifunanya’s boyfriend before she met Samuel.
“Smart said he is the father of the baby, but that he doesn’t have the money to take care of him. So, he told the police that he wanted his baby to be in the custody of Madam Stainless till 2021 before he will be returned to me,” the younger lady said.
However, Madam Stainless denied some of the allegations, but confirmed some. She said there was no plot between her and her husband to “trade off Ifunanya’s baby.” She described Miss Eze as “a night club freak and a thief who is not stable enough to parent a child,” an opinion she said informed her insistence to take custody of the baby.
She explained that she had informed neighbours that she had twins, just to save the baby from stigma when he grows up and having been blessed with four children; she doesn’t “lack a child to be desperate for Ifunanya’s baby.”
Madam Stainless narrated how she met Miss Eze: “She came to my shop crying for help. I accepted her without knowing she was dubious. She confessed that there was no drug she hadn’t taken to abort her pregnancy, believing that the foetus was dead and needed to be removed. I took her for a scan and the result showed the baby was alive, but she insisted she didn’t want it.”
Madam Stainless explained further that Ifunanya: “Said her parents were separated and that she had earlier given birth to a girl now staying with her mother back home. She even threatened to kill the baby and run away if she puts to bed because she didn’t want her mother to know about it in order not to worsen her health condition.” She also alleged that Samuel invited a child trafficker from another state to buy off his girlfriend’s baby.
She said further said Miss Eze called her from a hideout to alert her that Samuel had invited a team of soldiers to arrest her, pleading that she should not be named as the mother of the baby.
“They were angry that their plan failed. They had planned to sell the child and share the money,” Madam Stainless said, adding that she was commended by the police during interrogation and that “Ifunanya had pleaded with the police that she wanted her baby to be taken custody of by her madam.”
Madam Stainless thereafter informed the police that she would no longer keep the child unless Mr. Smart, the father of the baby, consented to the arrangement before the police. When he did, she claimed the police took her to the JWB to complete arrangements to foster the child and return him to his biological parents in later years. Mr. Smart pledged to help with N2, 000 monthly for the baby’s upkeep.
In a dramatic twist, Ifunanya divulged that “at eight months of pregnancy, she (Madam Stainless) had called me, my boyfriend, and her husband, and informed us that we will go to court to sign that the baby wouldn’t belong to me; and her husband, Chinedu, told us he wouldn’t want anyone competing for the child’s custody with him after he had trained him. She told me that baby boys cost a lot of money (to bring up). Maybe her intention was to sell the baby.”
But Madam Stainless refuted Ifunanya’s allegations, insisting that it was the younger woman who informed her of the existence of baby trafficking in Jos.
However, Dr. Peter Mbale told Daily trust that he discharged both women on the same day because they were doing well. He insisted that the hospital had no knowledge of the madam (Madam Stainless) taking custody of the other lady’s (Miss Eze) baby.
The Plateau State police command spokesman, Terna Mathias Tyopev confirmed that the matter was reported to the police, but that he had not been fully briefed about the case to talk to the press.
“Immediately we get the facts of the case, I won’t hesitate to talk to the press,” he said.