Southern City News learnt that the couple decided to sell the child in order to raise money to rent their own apartment in Ikom, headquarters of Ikom Local Government Area of the state.
Parading the couple alongside 28 other suspected criminals to journalists in Calabar, the state Commissioner of Police, Mr Hafiz Inuwa, said that the couple was arrested in Ikom on April 26 following a tip-off.
A top police source said the couple had confessed to the crime, adding that the deal was foiled by a decoy policeman.
He said, “From their confession, the wife had given birth to Favour for another man before getting married to Udoh. But the couple took her as their daughter. They have two other children together. They have been living with the man’s sister but they are not comfortable in the house because of insults.
“So, they agreed as couple to sell the girl and use the money to get accommodation. They actually placed her for sale at N1.5m. A police went to pose as the buyer and they agreed for N400, 000. They were even telling the decoy policeman that the girl was old enough to do house chores.”
The commissioner of police, however, said that the couple sold the child out of poverty.
Inuwa added that they were in need of money to pay their house rent and possibly open up a small provision shop.
He said,
“On April 26 2017, following a tip-off, our men arrested a couple, George-Sunday Udoh and his wife Victoria George-Sunday for allegedly selling their daughter at the cost of N400,000.
“The suspects were arrested by our operatives attached to the Ikom division. The case has been transferred to State Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department here in Calabar and investigation is ongoing,” he said.
But, the father of the child, Udoh, in an interview with PUNCH Metro, denied the allegation.
While admitting that the girl was the daughter of his wife that had lived with them for over five years, Udoh said they never contemplated selling the child.
He said, “It is true that we don’t have money and things are very hard with me and my wife, but we did not sell our baby for N400, 000. We never thought of that kind of thing for her,” he said.
Mother of the girl, who was looking downcast, refused to comment on the matter.
She simply said, “I do not know what they are talking about.”
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