The recent arrest of two officials of the Ondo State Ministry of Women Affairs for allegedly stealing and selling a baby of a mentally sick woman for 1 million is a betrayal of trust, in the belief that any woman that finds herself in dire situation could find solace there.
According to reports, the woman, Deborah Iretioluwa Olorundare gave birth on the street and some people took her to the MMC Catholic Hospital in Ondo town. Thereafter, the officials of the hospital handed over the baby to the two government officials.
The suspects, Sarumi Adeyemi, a director in the ministry, and Florence Bosede Orisamehin, a senior official in the same ministry, were said to have sold the baby to one Toyin Olabiwonninu for N1 million after she applied for adoption of a baby.
The woman was later taken to a psychiatric home in Akure, the state capital. After four months when she got better a sickly baby boy was brought to her, but she declined, insisting that she give birth to a baby girl.
Investigation commenced after she raised this alarm, leading to the arrest of the two officials. Toyin Olabiwonnimu, however, was said to have left the country with the baby.
Imagine, just because of greed, though there are some things that no matter how greedy and corrupt one is, one should not go into it.
First of all, the Ministry of Women Affairs is meant to cater for women’s issues. The Department of Social Welfare comes under it; with orphanages, homes for the physically and mentally challenged children, among others.
So it is a big ministry with so much to do, but unfortunately some see that as an opportunity to make money by taking advantage of adoption. Besides adoption shouldn’t cause money, the babies are not commodities for sale.
Even when a baby is found in a refuse dump and people gather, and somebody wants the baby, it involves the police, the social welfare and the ward head. It does not involve money. Then relatives, friends and neighbours give gifts of baby dress, and so on.
Though the baby is not taken to the orphanage and not adopted there, it still involves the authorities to make it formal and to avoid problems that may arise later.
In any case, what makes this case surprising and shocking is that it involves government officials unlike the cases of ‘baby factory’ where young girls are kept to give birth and the babies are sold to wealthy people while the mothers are given paltry sum and sent away, or some private orphanages where checks may not be as diligent as in the government ones in the case of adoption.
And people trust the government to take care of these babies more than they would have some private orphanages where a baby may ‘disappear.’
In any event, this may not be the first time such a case happens and a thorough investigation on adoptions should be carried out, we may be surprised of what would be uncovered.
However, search light should be beamed on such ministries and orphanages, they might have been turned into gold mines and many people made millionaires.
Another despicable thing is that these entrusted government officials took advantage of Deborah, seeing that she is mentally sick, so whatever happens it would be her words against theirs’.
They probably took it for granted that she would accept the baby boy as her own without remembering, but God has made her to know and remember the gender of her baby.
It is expected those in charge of such places should be upright, but not those that see them as an avenue for children selling or even trafficking now that this baby is already out of the country. And the possibility of the baby reuniting with her mother is bleak, but we should keep our fingers crossed.
