57-year-old Vincent Mbam and his wife, Nnenna, were detained by personnel of the Special Anti-Touting Squad in Anambra (SASA) Onitsha area office, for allegedly selling their three children between 2019 and 2024.

Vin and his wife, natives of Ogboji-Ezzaegu in Ishielu local government area of Ebonyi state, committed the crime where they were residing in Oba, Idemili South local government area of Anambra state.

A concerned neighbour, who got hint of the illicit transaction (names withheld), reported the couple to SASA personnel, who subsequently detained the couple at the Upper Iweka area of Onitsha.

When a Legit.ng correspondent visited, an officer on duty said he had no authority to speak to newsmen. But the male suspect, Mr. Mbam, told the unrelenting correspondent that it was frustration that made him and his wife to engage in the illicit transaction, adding that they sold only two of their children and not three, as earlier claimed.

He said:

"In 2019, conditions were very bad for us. There was no money for house rent, no money for school fees, no money for feeding the children.

"Most importantly, my in-laws were disturbing me - threatening that they would storm my house and take my wife and children, because, I had not yet consumated the marital rites. Because of the pressure, we agreed to sell our male child at the sum of four hundred thousand naira."

Mbam said that he was able pay his wife's bride prize and perform some other marital rites; adding that he used the remainder of the money to buy household items.

He further disclosed that in December, 2024, when they had their sixth child, a female, they also decided to sell her.

He said that they sold the girl child for the sum of one million, seven hundred thousand naira. He, however, refused to disclose specific things he used the money to do.

When asked to tell her own side of the story, Mrs Nnenna Mbam, 39, corroborated what her husband said, but added that in all those transactions, her husband gave her one hundred thousand naira only, and used the remainder of the money on himself.

She said:

"What pains me about what my husband did was that he didn't pay school fees, and hardly brought food to the table. When the bigger money came, he gave me only one hundred thousand naira; yet, I'm the one doing all the expenses in the house. This behaviour is what made people know that we sold our children. If he behaved well and used the money properly, nobody would have heard that anything happened."

Asked about the identities of people that bought the two children, Mrs Mbam said she could not trace the people because the children were sold through an intermediary - a certain medical doctor operating in the Umunya area of the state.

Asked why she initially confessed that they sold three children, but later agreed with her husband that it was only two that they sold; she said it was a slip of the tongue.

She added:

"I never knew this issue would turn out this way. Everything happened because of frustrations. Anybody in our shoes would be tempted to do the same thing.

"We're only begging for forgiveness. We cannot repeat this mistake. Please, help us beg government not to punish us."

Earlier, Legit.ng reported that a teenage apprentice in Anambra State had come under scrutiny after allegedly impregnating ten girls within a five-month period, sparking concern among residents and state authorities.

The 18-year-old was initially sent to learn a trade but was dismissed from his apprenticeship after reportedly impregnating both his master’s daughter and a salesgirl working for the same master.

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Source: Legit.ng