In this report, Deji Lambo writes on the tortuous journey of a mother of three, Fortune Obhafuoso; her failed plan to make her life better through surrogacy; and other risky episodes that culminated in a policeman allegedly conniving with yet-to-be-identified persons to pay her N185,000 after collecting her newborn against her will
Fortune Obhafuoso, 35, was embittered as she gave an account of how her day-old child was taken from her at a Lagos State police formation where detectives investigating high-profile criminal cases are domiciled.
The mother of three said after the baby was taken, a policeman, Samuel Ukpabio, threatened her never to return for the child.
Afterward, she was conciliated with N15,000 and thrown out.
“All I want is my baby; I gave birth to him around 12.30am on Friday, December 23, 2022, and immediately named him Joseph. I only breastfed him once because, on the same day I gave birth to him, I was arrested and taken alongside my three children to the State Criminal Investigation Department, Panti, Yaba, Lagos State.
“The last time I saw my newborn was at the SCID, where a policeman, Samuel Ukpabio, connived with people who pretended to help me and stole my baby.
“Ukpabio warned me never to return to the station; he said if I returned, my remaining two children would also be taken away,” the 35-year-old, who relocated her family to Lagos State from Benin, Edo State, told our correspondent.
Teacher turn surrogate
Until she got embroiled in her current predicament, Fortune was a teacher at a primary school in Benin, Edo State.
As a single mother who had been fending for herself and her two children for over six years after she and her live-in lover separated, Fortune said she survived on a meager salary of N15,000.
For a period of nine years, the aggrieved mother said she fervently impacted knowledge in pupils at a primary school in the Ikpoba Okha Local Government Area of Edo State, until she grew tired and frustrated.
“It was from the N15,000 that I earned as salary that I fed myself and two children, saved to pay for the one-room flat we lived in, while the director of the school assisted with my children’s school fees,” she said.
Perplexed by her condition, Fortune hatched a plan.
According to her, if the plan panned out successfully, she would be able to raise money to run her dream business of selling foodstuffs.
While in Edo State, the 35-year-old said she watched a movie on surrogacy, researched it online and while surfing through social media, linked up with a surrogate agent on Facebook.
“I never met the agent in person but during our discussion, I was told to come to Lagos State for the surrogacy and I said I had nobody to accommodate me there.
“But when the agent promised to give me accommodation, I left Edo State with my children to do surrogacy in Lagos. I was tired of the life we were living.
“The payment plan was that after delivery, the couple who wanted to do the surrogacy would pay me N1.4m. But the whole plan was based on me conceiving first.
“The agent said the couple would pay N50,000 on transfer day and after confirming that I was pregnant, I would get N100,000. The agent said the couple would also put me on a N50,000 monthly allowance, and give me N100,000 wardrobe allowance; secure N300,000 accommodation for me; pay me N3,000 for transport every time I visited the hospital; if I delivered the baby through a cesarean section, they would pay me N200,000, and then also pay me N1.4m as compensation for one baby and N1.6m if they were two babies,” she added.
Fortune, who alongside her two children had been residing at the temporary accommodation provided by the surrogate agent in Lagos, said the process for the surrogacy was done at a hospital in the Magodo area of the state.
She explained that she never met the couple whom the agent was interfacing with when she was contracted for the surrogacy until the day of confirmation at the hospital.
Dashed hope
The Edo State indigene said immediately the doctor announced that the result was negative, “the woman (client) started crying. I felt pity for her and even suggested that we try again, but while crying,” she declined and said she and her husband had tried it with someone else but got the same result.
Fortune said she attempted to convince the woman but her mind was made up, adding that things took another turn when the woman asked if she could get pregnant and give up the baby for adoption.
“She said the process for the adoption would be done legally and I agreed. But the woman insisted that she needed to seek the consent of her husband before agreeing on terms with me.”
Week in and week out, conversations went back and forth between Fortune and the woman who reportedly expressed reservation that Fortune could default on the agreement by returning years later to claim the baby.
“I assured her nothing of such would happen but she kept saying she was still trying to convince her husband to agree to the idea of adoption. The discussion was still ongoing for about two months when I got impregnated by another man who was not ready to father the baby.
“I informed the woman but she kept saying her husband had yet to agree and that was how the discussion between me and the woman ended. So, I was left alone,” she added.
As Fortune grappled with her new situation, another challenge was brewing from the surrogate agent who temporarily accommodated her and her children at a location in the Igbe area of Igbogbo Local Council Development Area of Lagos State.
Since the surrogacy plan did not work out, Fortune and her family, who had stayed for a considerable time, were asked to leave the house.
Back to base
However, Fortune, who bagged a Nigeria Certificate in Education from the National Teachers Institute, Edo State, with some years of experience in teaching, secured employment at the Bloosmead School, Igbe, Igbogbo, and was paid N25,000.
After working in the school from March till June 2022, the teacher said she secured another teaching job in August at the Esther Crown Primary School, Igbe, where she was paid N30,000 monthly.
The Edo State indigene said she also enrolled her two kids in schools and pleaded with the surrogate agent for more time to get another accommodation.
“When the time elapsed, I had to plead with the owner of Esther Crown Primary School for me and my children to be sleeping in one of the classrooms pending the time I would secure another accommodation.
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“It was really a tough period; my children and I usually slept in one of the classrooms, and woke up very early to quickly have our baths before the pupils and workers would resume.
“We were managing in the school when the school owner said when I give birth, I can’t be living on the school premises with the newborn,” Fortune said.
She noted that around October 2022, while seeking help, she composed a message explaining her ordeal, which she posted on different social media platform groups.
The message read in part, “Good day everyone, I decided to be a surrogate mom. I relocated (to Lagos) with my kids to start the process which didn’t work. I met with the client I was doing it for, she was crying and I felt for her. I told her I can still help her repeat the process again, she told me she was scared it might be negative again.
“She said I should help her get pregnant so that she will take care of the process and adopt the child legally, I agreed. Finally, I got pregnant, told her, and she was happy. She stopped replying to me and answering my calls after I told her, only for her to tell me (later) that she was still trying to convince her husband.
“After three months of no positive response from her, I decided to (source) for other clients which none was ready to take up responsibility by telling me after delivery they’ll adopt. Now, I’m 7 months gone; I have decided to keep the baby. Please, help me with baby items, it has not been easy, my life is so complicated, I need help please.”
While some social media group administrators declined to post her story, others posted it but most group members jettisoned her request.
Dangerous help
However, the post elicited a reaction from a lady, identified as Tosin, aka Agnes.
According to Fortune, Tosin connected her with a yet-to-be-identified woman who offered to get her accommodation and set her up for business on the condition that when she gives birth, she would give up the baby for adoption.
The 35-year-old said, “I and my children managed in the school we were staying from October till December 16, 2022, when they vacated; I was due to deliver the baby in a week. So, I had no choice but to leave for the place Tosin and the woman told me to go to at the Diya Gateway, Agbara, where I stayed with a couple.
“My children and I got to Agbara on Friday, December 16, and on Sunday, I told Tosin I was no longer interested in doing anything with her and the woman who wanted to adopt the baby and that I wanted to leave Agbara.
“But on Monday, December 19, the wife of the person I stayed with at Agbara took me to do a scan.
“On Wednesday, December 21, I started vomiting, experienced indigestion and some other pregnancy-related symptoms. Tosin chatted with me on WhatsApp and said I would be going to a hospital on Thursday, December 22, 2022, for a check-up.
“Around 6am, the wife of the person I stayed with said an Uber driver was outside to convey me to the hospital. I was told the driver would convey us to Mr Biggs at Abule Egba, where Tosin would pick us to the hospital.”
Fortune said she called Tosin when they got to the eatery and she said a doctor and a lady would pick her and her children up, adding that they were inside the eatery when the husband of the woman who asked if she would give up the baby for adoption, called and said the doctor and the lady were outside to take them to the hospital.
The expectant mother said when she met the doctor and the lady, they conveyed her and her two children to the Trinity Lab, Alakuko, to run some tests, and from there, to Fabma Hospital Annex, Ajegunle Bus Stop, Alakuko, Lagos State.
While preparations were being made for the delivery of her baby, Fortune said she started taking pictures to document her moments before delivery.
She explained that one of the nurses in the hospital who saw her taking pictures quickly alerted the doctor, who challenged her.
“I said I took the pictures for memories,” but the doctor left grudgingly.
Fortune’s two children, Perfect and Splendour, were with their mother in the hospital till she gave birth to their sibling, a baby boy, whom their mother christened, Joseph.
Happiness turns sour
After successfully delivering the baby around 12.20am on Friday, December 23, 2022, the nursing mother said the yet-to-be-identified doctor injected her and she fell asleep.
Fortune woke up around 3am and was searching for her children when she saw Perfect and Splendour, both of whom she said appeared to be keeping a watch on the baby when they fell asleep beside their baby brother in another ward in the hospital.
The overjoyed mother, upon sighting her baby, said she made a sigh of relief, picked him up, used her mobile phone to snap his pictures and was bonding with her baby by breastfeeding him when something happened a few hours later.
“All of a sudden, the doctor drove me and my children to the point where he picked us up, parked, told us to get down, threw our loads on the ground and drove off without saying anything.Related News
“I was shocked; I carried Joseph in my arms and was trying to put our loads together when two women appeared and started to congratulate me on my newborn.
“One of the women introduced herself as the one who offered to help me so she could adopt the baby. I asked how they were able to recognise me as I had never met any of them before and the woman in need of the adoption said they already described my looks to her,” the nursing mother stated.
In a jiffy, Fortune said a car drove in their direction and the women ushered her and her three children into it, adding that Tosin had said they would return her and her children to Agbara, but as the car driver advanced for some seconds, he stopped to pick up a man.
She explained that the man sat at the front, beside the driver, while the two women sat at the extreme end of the backseat, while she and her children sat in the middle.
In a twist of events, Fortune said the man sitting beside the driver suddenly looked back, introduced himself as a policeman and said she was under arrest for attempting to sell her newborn for N3m.
“I screamed; he said anything I said would be used against me in a court of law. I thought my children and I were being kidnapped because none of them wore uniforms. I asked where they were taking me to and I was told the SCID, Panti, Yaba, Lagos.
“It was when we got to the station that I felt relieved. But when the policeman, Ukpabio, instead of taking me through the front gate of the SCID, insisted on us passing a narrow path at the back of the SCID to enter the premises, I became worried.
“When we entered the premises, Ukpabio took us upstairs to a new building where he threatened and forced me to write a statement that I demanded N3m to sell my baby.
“I said that was not true but he said if I did not write the statement that way, they would take my children away and I would be detained and never see them again. He even took my phone and deleted all my evidence, including the pictures of my baby.” Fortune recounted.
The 35-year-old said the cop dictated how she wrote the statement, adding that he ignored her pleas that she never demanded money for her baby.
She explained that Ukpabio, while interrogating her at the SCID, said one of the two women with them was from a state ministry, adding that the other woman, who wanted to adopt the baby, was arrested, detained, and brought out of a cell to facilitate her arrest.
Fortune said, “The woman left when Ukpabio said they were returning her to the cell and then forcefully collected my baby, and handed him over to the woman he claimed came from the ministry.
“I started rolling on the floor and weeping for him to return my baby but Ukpabio shouted at me and threatened to take my remaining two children away. Perfect and Splendour also started crying.
“Ukpabio kept pressuring me to finish the statement and when I finished, he said he would no longer arrest me and would allow me to go with only Perfect and Splendour. I asked why and he said they were taking my baby to the ministry.
“I disagreed and he said he would arrest me, put me in a cell, take all my children away from me if I did not cooperate and I would die in the cell and nobody would know my whereabouts.
“As we were leaving the SCID around 8pm on the same day I delivered my baby, Ukpabio gave me N15,000 to take a cab to my destination.”
Fortune, after leaving the SCID, was at a crossroads; she could not return to the SCID for fear of losing her remaining children, and neither was the option of returning to continue living in the school desirable.
In the midst of being trapped in a web of indecision, the helpless mother of three also grappled with the pain of losing her newborn.
She plunged into the world of surrogacy but failed; her newborn, Joseph, who could have been her only consolation, was gone. Amid all the tormenting episodes, she had no abode and no one to take her in.
Fortune was roaming on the streets of Lagos with just N15,000 and her two children.
“Each time I called, he (Ukpabio) kept threatening me. He said if I kept calling him, he would report me to the National Agency for Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons and Other Related Matters, and they would arrest me and take my remaining children away.
“Nonetheless, I still kept calling him because I wanted my baby; he never disclosed the location of my baby, the ministry, or the orphanage home he took him (Joseph) to.
“The following day, I went to a police post in Mokoko, explained my condition to the three policemen I met there and they directed me to the people who introduced me to a rights activist, Dr Abiola Akiyode-Afolabi.
“But I kept calling Ukpabio; at one point, he demanded my account number. I informed the people who introduced me to the rights activist and was told to send it to know what he planned to do with it so we could gather evidence against him,” she added.
Fortune said she sent the account number on Sunday and informed Ukpabio, who upon confirming that he received it, said the ministry would send her something, adding that on Monday, December 26, she received a credit alert of N170,000 in her account.
“I quickly called Ukpabio to ask what the money was for but he did not say anything. I also told him that if the money was for my baby, I don’t want it as I am not selling my baby. He later said the money was for me to take care of myself.
“Ukpabio has been threatening me since then as I kept disturbing him for my baby; he even said he would track my location, arrest me and take away my remaining two children.
“We have been living in fear and usually disguise ourselves when going out to get something. All I want is my baby; the woman from the ministry declined to give me her number,” she said.
In one of the recorded conversations Fortune had with Ukpabio to demand her baby, the policeman was heard saying, “You don’t know the offence you committed? Don’t worry, I will invite you to come to our office and take you to NAPTIP. Ask what is the offence of child trafficking. I thought that you have sense but I don’t know that you don’t have sense.”
In another recorded conversation, Ukpabio, who had said a ministry took the baby, when asked which ministry said, “The baby has been taken to an orphanage,” home.
Tosin no longer picks up her call or replies to text messages from the aggrieved mother of three, who also said calls made to the number of the woman who offered to adopt the baby were no longer going through.
The N170,000 credit alert Fortune received indicated it was from ‘Ministry.’ There were no clear indications as to the type of ministry the money emanated from.
At the instance of our correspondent, the Edo State indigene approached the bank to authenticate the source of the money but said one of the workers at the bank told her the money was paid through Baxi PoS and that it was at the point of sending the money that the sender put ‘Ministry’.
The Founding Director, Women Advocates Research and Documentation Centre, Dr Abiola Akiyode-Afolabi, who had been facilitating the process of locating the whereabouts of the baby, said her organisation had commenced the process of petitioning security agents to wade into the matter.
She said, “It’s a complicated case; we are concerned about the life and security of a day-old baby taken away from her and also the complicity of the police and NAPTIP in this matter. We call on the government and law enforcement agents to ensure that this case is properly adjudicated upon; where is the baby?
“A day-old baby cannot get missing under the eye of the State CID; we are concerned about the security of all concerned as well. We know this is a ring; the government should come to the rescue.”
Contacted, the woman whom the mother of three claimed wanted to adopt the baby, said she wanted to take Fortune’s child legally, but never knew the process would backfire.
She said, “I met Fortune through an agent on Facebook; and had to involve the Lagos State Ministry of Women Affairs because I wanted everything to be legal. I informed them at the ministry that she (Fortune) demanded N3m for the baby.
“I carried the ministry along but I never knew that the woman at the ministry was playing me all along. On the day she (Fortune) gave birth, I personally paid for her delivery and was with the woman from the ministry at the time she was delivered of the baby.
“I never knew that the woman from the ministry was waiting to just see the baby and arrest all of us together because that was not the ideal thing to do. They said since she (Fortune) asked for N3m, it was child trafficking. We were all arrested together.
“I got released on January 2, 2023. My family was expecting me to bring the baby home as I went to the hospital to pretend as if I had gone to deliver and was bringing a baby home. I had to tell them the baby died.”
Efforts to get the woman’s name proved abortive as she suddenly directed our correspondent to the police for further reaction and hung up the call.
Tosin, when contacted, declined to comment on the matter and also directed our correspondent to the police.
Ukpabio, when contacted, said, “They wanted to sell a baby for N3m and that is baby trafficking. I explained to her that this is State CID Panti, and that the government has taken over the baby. The child is in the orphanage home with the government. The person that wants to buy the child is now in Kirikiri (Prison).”
Asked about the N170,000 sent to Fortune, the policeman said, “When things happen like that, instead of them to go and mess up themselves, they would do something for you so that you can establish yourself so you won’t be in that form again. So, the amount sent to her was to take care of herself.”
Asked why he released Fortune as he claimed she wanted to sell her baby for N3m which is an offence, Ukpabio said, “She has two other children; they wanted to collect them from her because she can’t take care of them and she started crying and pleading and because of the way she pleaded, she was released instead of taking to the Kirikiri (Prison).”
Ukpabio declined to reveal the name of the orphanage home and the ministry involved, nor where the money emanated from when he hung up the call.
Surrogacy in Nigeria
In an article titled, ‘Legal position on surrogacy arrangements in Nigeria and some selected jurisdictions’, published in the International Journal of Research in Humanities and Social Studies in 2020, Dr Enobong Akpambang and Monica Amujo-Akomolafe, argued that surrogacy arrangement was neither banned nor legalised in Nigeria, adding that parties who engaged in it might not be liable to a criminal prosecution or conviction as the offence was not defined and the penalty therefore prescribed in any written law.
“In spite of the dearth of laws to regulate or protect parties to ART procedures and the children who are products of such arrangements, Nigerian couples faced with reproductive challenges continue to patronise specialists in this area of medicine.
“However, one of the possible challenges the absence of a regulatory framework in this area may constitute to parties in a surrogacy arrangement, who may wish to approach the court to resolve any dispute arising therefrom, is the problem of which law the court would place reliance upon in determining the case.
“Another challenge posed by lack of surrogacy regulation in Nigeria is that it has resulted in the sudden increase of “baby factories” (also referred to as “baby farm” or “baby harvesting”) where ill-equipped clinics and unhygienic orphanages homes, prayer homes, social welfare homes or maternity homes have been turned into centers where poor young and vulnerable girls or women are lured into and encouraged or forced to become pregnant and deliver babies who are taken away from their mothers and sold on the “black markets” to desperate childless couples.
“As a matter of fact, negative media reports on baby factories have further endangered the recognition of surrogacy arrangements in Nigeria as a result of the likely stigmatisation of any couple known to have engaged the services of a surrogate mother because of the erroneous public perception and equation of surrogacy arrangements to baby factories,” Akpambang and Amujo-Akomolafe said in the article.
As for adoption, there are legitimate processes to take but none of the processes undermines the intrinsic role of consent except in cases where the child has been subjected to neglect, abandonment, and inhumane treatment, among other traumatising actions.
Reactions
Contacted, the Officer-in-Charge of Panti, Waheed Ayilara, said, “You have given me a very detailed story. I need to look into this, I will get the person involved and do all necessary things that I ought to do professionally and will get you duly informed through the PPRO.”
The state Police Public Relations Officer, SP Benjamin Hundeyin, when contacted, said, “We are aware of the case. The said officer (Ukpabio) has been taken into custody and investigation has commenced.”
The spokesperson for the Lagos State Ministry of Women Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, Abimbola Salehu-Badejo, when contacted, said, “WAPA is not in charge of babies. It is not our charge.”
The spokesperson for the Lagos State Ministry of Youth and Social Development, Adeola Olabisi, told our correspondent that she was not authorised to speak on the matter but would involve the permanent secretary and the commissioner, who would comment on it.
However, a senior person in the ministry, who spoke on condition of anonymity to our correspondent, said, “I have never heard of that story; the ministry does not buy babies. We only take custody of a child for protection. The ministry can never pay money for collecting a child.”
The state Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Gbenga Omotoso, said, “I am not aware of the case.”
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