A woman, Mrs Oluchukwu Nwosu, has sold her three-month-old grandson for N50,000, blaming the economic hardship occasioned by the removal of petrol subsidy, in Nnewi, Anambra State.
Mrs Nwosu said that her daughter who gave birth to the child had earlier given birth to two children and abandoned them for her to take care of.
She further said that the other two sons were being cared for by the state’s Community Children’s Home in Awka.
While pleading forgiveness, she said, “Due to our poor income, we had trouble feeding right from the time my daughter gave birth to her first baby.
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“We had no other option than to take the kids to the state’s motherless babies’ home, especially when our daughter refused to tell us who was responsible for her pregnancies.
“For the third son, I came across a buyer, Tochukwu Asiegbu and he paid me N50,000.”
Confirming the incident, the Commissioner for Women and Social Welfare, Ify Obinabo, said the sold baby had been rescued.
She said the rescue followed a report by the mother of the baby, Ijeoma Nwosu, who alleged that her mother forcefully sold her baby soon after he was born.
She explained that, “Following receipt of the allegation, I swung into action to identify and apprehend the perpetrators.
“After barely a month of consistent intelligence surveillance by officials from my ministry, the offenders were caught.”