This syndicate appears to involve the high and mighty in the society

New York, August 2, 2005—Africans In America, Inc. - a New York based human rights organization dedicated to end the abuse of victims of human trafficking wish to draw the attention of the public to illegal baby market (buying and selling) operating in the African nation – Nigeria.

From information we were able to gather, the baby (new-borne) buying and selling syndicate operating in various parts of Nigeria involves the high and mighty in the society.

The syndicate is run partly by powerful individuals, including females called ‘Thick madams’, medical personnel such as doctors and nurses, among others.

The Methodology of the baby-buying scheme

The network operates in tandem with various (mostly) private hospitals in various parts of Nigeria both in the cities and rural areas who buy newborn babies from poor single teens, especially, pregnant students in high schools and higher institutions, including universities.

• The hospitals will buy each child from the poor teen students for about N20,000.00 to N40,000.00. (U$ Dollar 142.86 to $285.71)
• The hospitals will sell each baby to the madams for about N70,000.00 to N100,000.00. (U$ Dollar 500.00 to $714.29)
• The madams will then sell each baby to anyone whatsoever for N140,000.00 to N170,000.00 and up. (U$ Dollar 1,000.00 to $1,214.29 and up)

Male babies sell higher price than female babies according to our investigation.

The network operates in extreme secrecy - such a way that the single teen parents and the madams do not know each other. This is designed to completely avoid any trace whatsoever. The hospitals in most cases arrange fake ‘adoption’ documents.

Few benefits

Some barren women utilize this method to get children in Nigeria . This is their interpretation of adoption process.

Lots of problems

Our investigation reveals that individuals with hardcore incorrigible criminal history run some of these operations. The problem with this practice is that, in most cases the syndicate could sell the babies to anyone that has money to pay, including:

• Ritual killers roaming around in Nigeria
• Headhunters and organ sellers for fetish purposes such as witchcrafts; and
• Other human trafficking syndicates.

Some individuals in Nigeria including some politicians routinely go to satanic native shrines and perform ritual killing and sacrifice in order to win political position. Worst of it all, the Nigeria law enforcement and judiciary have proven incapable of investigation and prosecuting cases involving powerful and highly connected individuals.

Governments must come up with clear policy and procedure for legal adoption.

Collusion of government officials weakens law enforcement: Anambra case in Nigeria is a well-known example.

The public found out that Anambra State Governor (a medical doctor by profession) went to satanic shrine at midnight to perform rituals in order to get his position only because dispute erupted among his syndicate. They quarreled and fought in public and they squealed on each other, and that was how the public got to know what was happening. So far, no member of the governors highly connected syndicate has been arrested despite their public confessions and police discovery of over 70 dead bodies and hundreds of human body parts openly displayed and at various level of decomposition in the satanic shrine at Okija.

Reports reaching our office state that the Nigeria police had deliberately bungled the case to protect the highly connected individuals some of who are; states and federal lawmakers, states and federal government officials, as well as, private individuals with links to the states and federal governments.

Recently the current Liberian President sternly and publicly warned candidates for political offices in his country to stop human ritual sacrifice because he will sign the execution papers for anyone the court convicts of ritual killing without loosing any sleep. He warned them that ritual killing will not guarantee winning any election. This is a bold courageous step and it clearly support our longtime position that some African leadership are involved in human sacrifice and satanic practices.

To ease pressure from the western civilized nations, Nigerian federal government created an agency to curb human trafficking. This agency has been determined to be largely ineffective, and more or less, a phantom.

Please feel free to contact our office if you have any question about any issue raised in this release.

Detail information about our organizational effort to stop the abuse of African victims of human trafficking could be obtained from our website.

Contact: Africans In America, Inc.
Phone: (718) 515-0500
Fax: (718) 515-0590

Ladies and Gentlemen:

On August 2, 2005 we (Africans In America, Inc.) issued a press release: Illegal baby market booms in Nigeria

Many people called our office to express support to our community awareness work while few noisemakers called to express their disaffection.

Only three weeks after our press release, here is a confirmation by a leading newspaper in Nigeria. For details on our informative and educational press releases visit our website.

Human trafficking: Police rescue nine pregnant girls, two babies

The Punch
Tuesday, August 23 2005
Fidelis Soriwei, Owerri

The men of the Imo State Police Command have rescued nine pregnant secondary school students and two new born babies from a doctor in Ulakwo in Ngor Okpalla Local Government Area of the state.

The nine pregnant ladies, mostly teenagers, and the babies have been handed over to the Motherless Babies Home of the Red Cross society in Owerri where they are being attended to by the matron of the home, Mrs. Cecelia Okere, and nurses at the request of the Imo State Commissioner for Women and Social Development, Mrs. Gertrude Oduka.

Oduka in a letter signed on her behalf by Amefule B.O., urged the management of the society to admit the affected ladies and their rescued children pending the conclusion of investigation into their cases by the CID department of the state command.

Other documents made available to journalists in Owerri on Monday, revealed that a Chief Superintendent of Police in charge of the case, Mr. Ayuba Elkanah, handed over the ladies to the Red Cross Home on August 9, 2005.

The PUNCH, Tuesday, August 23, 2005