When I got that text and subsequent call from Aero Contractors on 30 December 2009, that my pre-booked flight from Owerri to Lagos has been cancelled on some flimsy reason, I was naturally furious. However, since flights started dropping from the Nigerian air space like balloons, I have learnt to take every flight disappointment with measured resignation. This was my mood on 31 December 2009, when I got to Sam Mbakwe airport to collect my refund from Aero and buy any other airlines’ ticket for same day. The Chanchangi flight that I eventually settled for to take me to Lagos was scheduled to take off by 12.30pm but for some inexplicable reason had a two hour delay that saw us departing the Sam Mbakwe airport by 2.30pm.
I have hardly settled-in for the 50 minutes flight than a lady who perhaps could be in her late 30s or early 40s started talking harshly to some elderly woman well into her 60s or more sitting adjacent to her and carrying a baby that looked weak and sleepy. When the younger lady whom I later identified as Mrs. Okpi started shouting that the older woman may have stolen the Child she was carrying, our interest, {the passengers} in the airbus was sufficiently aroused. I waited patiently for the plane to take off and stabilize before I approached Mrs. Okpi and introduced myself and requested to know what informed her suspicion. She told me that her motherly instincts suspects that the older woman could neither be the biological mother of the baby nor a regular nanny for the baby she was carrying because she was stuffing the poor 5-month-old baby with biscuits.
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A quick glance at the older woman and the innocent baby she was carrying convinced me I should take more than a passing interest on the matter at hand. I had naturally argued with myself whether I could have enough time to see through the mega drama unfolding before us. However, I was overwhelmed by sheer passion and my natural affinity with the un-arguable innocence of babies. This forced me to sit beside the older woman who by now was looking bemused and a bit confused. I quickly re-assured her through my approach of friendliness that I was beside her to assist in sorting out whatever it was that may be causing the impasse between her and the younger woman.
After confirming that she was from ‘Item’ Umuahia ‘in Abia state, I quickly continued my discussion with her in Igbo language which made her a little more comfortable, and she was able to narrate her story to me without further hesitation. The brief interview went thus:
Me: what is your name?
Woman: my name is Ijeoma Uko
Me: what is the name of this fine boy?
Woman: Ukachukwu Chidozie Uko.
Me: how old is he, he appears too young?
Woman: he will be five months tomorrow 1 January 2010.
Me: really? Is he your grandson or?
Woman: No, he is my sister’s son.
Me: Ah ah! Where’s your sister and what is her name?
Woman: My sister is waiting for me in Lagos and her name is Onyebuchi Uko.
Me: why is she in Lagos and her child is with you in Owerri airport?
Woman: Looks at me and confides in a low voice that, “ my sister is old and can no longer have a child of her own so our cousin who is a matron at Amachara general Hospital arranges for this child together with my two nephews Emeka Uko and Alfred O. Uko to bring this child for my sister Onyebuchi Uko”. She continues, “You know it is not right for a woman who has advanced in age not to have a child she could call her own”.
Me: Ok, but this your sister Onyebuchi, is she married?
Woman: she and her husband have been divorced for years now and maybe it is because of childlessness.
Me: do you have children, and if yes, where are they?
Woman: I have a child and her name is comfort, she lives and schools in Aba and presently in JSS3.
Me: Who brought you to the airport and have you flown or been to Lagos before?
Woman: My nephew Alfred O. Uko arranged a special drop that brought us to Owerri airport and my other nephew, Emeka Uko accompanied us. I have neither flown nor been to Lagos before.
Me: where do Emeka and Alfred Uko reside and work?
Woman: Emeka Uko is a pastor in a church in Umuahia and Afred O.Uko works for Abia Transport Company and they both live in No 3 Ohafia Street, Umuahia.
Me: where has this child been since birth and who have been taking care of him?
Woman: The child has been at Ubakala the home of our matron cousin, Chinasa Ihuoma and I was brought from Aba to look after him and since the child is used to me, they { Chinasa, Emeka and Alfred} decided I should be the person to take him to Lagos.
Me: Is Chinasa married?
Woman: Yes, and lives with her husband at Ubakala near Umuahia town.
Me: thank you madam, I will try to see to it that no harm comes to you at this airport today.
Woman: thank you, please help me, I have told you nothing but the truth and I did not steal this child.
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It was after this interview that a few other passengers joined and together we took contact with the crew; who gave us all the necessary co-operation to politely detain all passengers right inside the aircraft for more than 30 minutes after landing to enable us plan our next move and alert both the airport security who promptly responded. We gave back the child to the old ‘Nanny’ to stay alone with the child after we have placed a call and confirmed that the said Ms Onyebuchi Uko was actually waiting at the MM2 airport terminal for her prized baby.
A joint team of airport security and the Domestic Division of the Nigerian Police force that conducted the whole matter in a most professional manner promptly arrested them immediately.
On preliminary interrogation by Ayuba B. Pam {Superintendent of Police} in charge of the domestic airport, police asked Ms Onyebuchi Uko how she came about the baby. Onyebuchi who gave out a business card that reads:
“Joseph Mynah & co”
Solicitors
Commissioner for oaths,
Listed her names as, Rachel Uko, LLB {Hons}
Principal Solicitor
She also listed a London address thus:
Unit 54, Grove Business Centre
560-568 HighRoad
London N17 9TA,
While at the back of the card, she listed the following: Crime, Immigration, Conveyancing, Employment, Commercial and Family, maybe as probable areas of specialization.
She further claims, “She does not know the mother of the child even though she had claimed earlier that the mother was a 15-year-old girl niece that preferred abortion before she intervened to come and adopt the baby at delivery”.
I believe that passing judgment at this stage will be rather premature since the Commissioner of police in Lagos is said to have shown interest in the case and ordered an all out investigation.
However, one can not but speculate on the rampant cases of baby swapping and outright theft in local hospitals where helpless mothers are usually informed their children are dead or still born and have had to be thrown away.
We know how difficult it is for the police to push this kind of case when there are no apparent complainants at hand to fund the very expensive investigations that must ensue to unravel the true story behind these conflicting claims. In the face of this challenge, let me appeal to the Inspector General of Police to use his good offices to place his most experienced Men in this case to unravel the masquerades’ behind this dastardly act. I am not under any illusion that certain claims are not adding up yet and on proper investigation, the truth will emerge to confront the perpetrators’. For all we care, there maybe one hapless mother out there nursing the grief of loosing her baby at birth while the same baby is alive and waiting to board a London based plane. Worst still, we do not have sufficient proof to state categorically that the baby in question is not a kidnap victim waiting to be used as bait for ransom.
While at this, let me please digress to observe briefly that Citizen Abdul Farouk Muttalab who has placed Nigerians name ingloriously at the International high crime arena is a citizen of the world and not just Nigeria. It has become fashionable for the rich and famous in Nigeria to outsource parenting of their wards to different schools around the globe. My first reaction and I believe that of many Nigerians on hearing the sad news was that we do not convey bombs that will eventually kill us alongside the targeted victims. In other words, we are no suicide bombers. That some crazy foreign National may have illegally acquired our International passport that could easily be obtained at beer joints. I was rudely shocked hours later when the identity of citizen Farouk was unveiled. One thing that gave me solace was that citizen Farouk because of his highly privileged background, was educated and raised in all manner of places but Nigeria. So, the young lad never identified with our perennial problems of energy challenge, debilitating road networks, ASSU strikes, crippling corruption and total absence of a secured future for kids of his age group and beyond. It was while his parents were trying to shield him from these problems that they decided to outsource his early training first to a British International School in Lome and later Uk, Dubai and Yemen. It was while in Yemen that some ‘teachers’ thought him nonsense and he totally forgot that Nigeria in spite of the fact that we may share the same religious beliefs with the citizens of these countries, but our challenges as a country are far more threatening than the esoteric pursuits of Al Qaeda.
Can you now see why everybody should join hands to fix our schools, our hospitals, our electricity, our roads and even our brains? Poor Muttalab senior, he wanted the best for his son but the system frustrated him, just as I would like to send my heart felt sympathy to IBB who would have loved to send his dear wife to a Specialist Cancer Centre in Abuja but for the system. Now, this same ubiquitous system has kept away our dear President in a Saudi hospital instead of the National Hospital Abuja since the last decade. This system, Haba! Wetin self!.
Chike Orjiako
Guest Contributor
Lagos Nigeria
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