Man Sells His 2-Year-Old Son For N450K In Enugu

For allegedly selling his son for N450,000, Kanayo Awurum, 29, has been arrested by the Lagos State Police Command in Egbe, Ikotun area of Lagos state.

It was gathered that Kanayo, an indigene of Imo State, allegedly sold the two-year-old boy, identified as Samuel, to three middle-aged women ─ Nkechi Obi, Cecilia Nwatu and Gladys Nwobodo ─ on Thursday, April 2, 2015 after his friend, Emmanuel introduced him to the women due to his complaint of having some financial difficulties.

Kanayo, who worked as a painter, lied to his wife, Kelechi, that one of the women was his relative in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, and the boy was going to live with her.

Speaking, Kanayo said he was advised by Emmanuel to sell his child to the women for N450K, adding that his plan was to stabilise his family with the money as his wife was pregnant with another child.

He said, “I met Kelechi in our secondary school days in 2005. It was in 2010 that we started living together. In December 2012, she gave birth to Samuel. We were then living in Owerri, Imo State. I was working as a painter and also acted in movies. I was an upcoming actor so I was not well paid.

“From 2014, I started to have financial difficulties, and I wanted to come to Lagos to hustle. The idea to sell my child came in March 2015 when I finally decided to travel to Lagos. It was a friend, Emmanuel, who linked me to the women. I asked him to lend some money to me and he said I should use what I had to get what I wanted.

“I did not tell my wife that I wanted to sell our child. I lied to her that one of the women who came was my elder sister in Port Harcourt and our son was going to stay with her. My wife did not like the idea, but I convinced her that it was for our good.

“So, when we came to Lagos, we rented an apartment on Oluwaseyi Street in the Egbe area of Lagos. I was paid N450,000 for the boy. That was what I used to pay for the rent.”

The mother of the child, Kelechi, 28, said it was when she pestered Kanayo to bring her child home for a visit and the boy was not brought by the ‘relative’ that she suspected a foul play and reported her husband's friend and their landlord who questioned him till he confessed. After which the case was reported at the Ikotun Police Station and later transferred to SARS.

One of the suspected buyers, Obi,was nabbed in Port Harcourt while the two other suspected buyers were arrested in Agbani area of Enugu State where the baby was sold.

The baby, Samuel has been recovered by the police last week Friday, and reunited with his mother, Kelechi.

Mrs Nwatu, 42, who took the child to her house in Enugu, said she planned to raise him as her child as her biological son was disabled. She added that she paid N650,000 for the boy.

She said, “I am a mother of three. I have two girls and one boy, but my boy is deformed. He is about 10 years old. My husband did not know about it. I wanted a male child desperately to bear the family name. My boy has the Down syndrome. He could not talk.”

The Police Public Relations Office, DSP Kenneth Nwosu, confirmed the arrest, adding that investigations were ongoing to get the fleeing accomplice.

*Original reportage by Punch, rewritten here *