The recurring cases of ‘baby factories’ phenomenon in Aba, Abia
State, is taking another dimension as the State Security Service (SSS)
, yesterday burst another of such as it paraded 16 pregnant ladies
rescued from a baby factory located in Aba, the commercial nerve
centre of the state. Director of SSS, Abia State command, Matthew
Obodoechi, who briefed journalists, said that the girls whose ages
range between 17 and 37 years, were rescued on Monday from a
so-called “charity home” named Cross Foundation International,
located along Anyamele Street, Umungasi, Aba. On seeing
journalists inside the room where they were kept at the SSS state
headquarters, many of the pregnant ladies began to weep profusely.
Obodoechi said that the proprietor of the baby factory, Dr. Hyginus
Ndudim Orikara, was arrested Wednesday morning, vowing that
the medical practitioner, who is in the employment of the state
government, would be prosecuted. The SSS chief expressed
concern that baby factory phenomenon had become a new criminal
trend in Abia State and other south-east states. “It is another form of
kidnapping, where babies are snatched at the point of birth and
sold,” adding, “it is a big shame, a big problem and it all boils down
to the kind of values we have in the society today where life is not
valued,” Obodoechi lamented.