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| The signboard of the ‘hospital’ |
James Ezuma, a medical doctor nabbed by the police in Owerri, Imo State, for operating baby factories, is the face of child trafficking in Nigeria.
The glassy signpost with blue, white and black lettering promises would-be visitors succour. Its delicate frame announces to the public the presence of a private hospital. Near this board is another with less aesthetic appeal on a lonely street off Egbu Road, in Owerri metropolis, which announces to the vulnerable, a place of refuge.
The wordings on this board, strong enough to comfort even the most disheartened, have been revealed as a decoy to perpetrate evil. The place is “Ezuma Women and Children Rights Protection Initiative. FG Approved NGO Homeless Babies Home,” which, until last month, was the epicentre of child trafficking, with a baby production regime, as if in an industrial factory, in full swing.
At the peak of his career, Dr. James Ezuma, who claims to have studied at the University of Jos, was the poster child of successful medical practice. His vast empire, including real estate, posh automobiles and women, advertised him as a man who attained success through dedicated commitment to his profession.
His physical wealth was complemented by a long list of clientele and friends in political and business circles. This probably explains why, with impunity, he could operate his purported hospital and Non-Governmental Organisation, NGO, in a building for which proper building permit was never obtained.
Yet, he was there for many years without the concerned officials raising eyebrows. For the sheer size of his wealth, the undiscerning public held him in awe. The church bestowed a knighthood on him for his commitment to charity! This was before the police flashed their detective klieg lights on his activities.
Ezuma: Serial polygamist with his third wife
What they saw however, negates the very essence of the medical guild. In Aba, the commercial nerve centre of Abia State where Ezuma operated from before he was declared wanted, the 65-year-old drew respect and fear in nearly equal proportions. His five-storey ‘hospital and charity home’ on 101 Okigwe Road, Aba, was frequented by high-heeled guests and ‘patients’ who visited mostly at night in sleek automobiles.
Their purpose: to purchase a child. The cost of land in the eternally busy Okigwe Road is estimated at N10 million per plot. Sources say the magnificent edifice may have been erected on over five plots of land. Neighbours and passers-by who dared prey into his activities in this fortress suffered losses as a result.
A former associate of his told this magazine that any medical practitioner, who challenged his baby dealer’s reptilian practices, suffered either physical harm or had his clinic shut down. His network of friends, some believed to be in privileged positions of government, ensured that he never suffered harassments.
And when he did, they made escape routes available to him. Competent sources in the police force say he had been detained by the police but on such occasions, he was let off the hook.
Deception: The signboard contravened what happened in the ‘home’
The building which has been demolished by the Abia State government following its owner’s arrest in Owerri, was a den where innocent children were herded as raw material for his baby production factory. Here, Ezuma, working in tandem with his network of collaborators, brought girls, some pregnant, claiming to help provide anti- and post-natal services to them.
Thereafter, the impostor claimed he offered them humanitarian services such as rehabilitating the teenage girls, while offering the children out on adoption. The inside of his so-called hospital before it was pulled down, fared even less than a dispensary.
With a promise of good life and health care cover for the unborn child, the girls were coerced to give up their children for pittance, sometimes as low as N50,000 to N200,000. The methods of harvesting the babies, this magazine learnt, were debasing of the ethics of gynaecological practice. Using induced labour and crude delivery methods, Ezuma reportedly harvested even unripe pregnancies to satisfy his patrons.
Although he made little noise about his sleight-of-the hand child production prowess in public, Ezuma was the definition of impudence. Following several half-spirited battles by the police with him in Abia State, Ezuma, who hails from Ndiokeke Ndiakunwata, Arondizuogu, Ideato North LGA, Imo State, fled homewards. Owerri was where he relocated his lair and operational headquarters….
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