A man, simply identified as Kanayo Awurum, is currently cooling his heels in the police net for selling his two-year-old son for N650,000 to a woman in desperate need of a male child.
Awurum, the buyer, Cecilia Nwatu and two others are being held by the Lagos State Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) over the sale of Chukwunonyelum.
Nwatu said she changed the boy’s name to Tochukwu after buying him.
The others are Nkechi Obi, 45, and Gladys Nwobodo, 38. Two others Emmanuel Obi and Emmanuel Ibe are at large.
Awurum confessed to have deceived his wife, Kelechi, that he was taking their son to his sister in Owerri, their home town, when they were having issues with their landlord.
Kenechi said she found that her husband was up to mischief and reported him to the police.
She said: “My husband had demanded a refund of the N140,000 he paid for self-contain apartment because the toilet system was not functioning. I discovered that my husband was playing games. I informed Kanayo’s friend, Coach Jerry, who uncovered the plot and advised me to report him at the Ikotun Police Station and I did.”
Initially, he said he gave out his son as collateral for borrowing N300, 000, but confessed that he sold the boy when the buyer was arrested.
Nwatu said she wanted to adopt a male child to save her husband’s family name “because a male child is important to them.”
She said she was deceived into buying the boy for N650, 000 by Awurum’s father and others.
Nwobodo, who said Cecilia’s husband is her elder brother, added: “She (Cecilia) asked me to accompany him to where she wanted to adopt a child. I did not know that the people wanted to sell the child until I got to Owerri”.