KINGSLEY EBERE
A couple, Esther Ini Udo, 32 and her husband, Eyo Stephen Udo, 34, has been sentenced to 30 years and N4m fine for buying and selling babies as goods in Cross Rivers State.
P.M.EXPRESS reports that the couple was charged by the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP), Cross River State Command.
They were convicted on the four-count charge bordering on the buying and selling of babies for exploitation, contrary to Sections 13(4)(a)(c) & (e), 21 and 27 of the TIPPEA Act, 2015.
The suit, with No: FHC/CA/19C/2025, was between the Federal Government of Nigeria and Esther Ini Udo and Eyo Stephen Udo filed under the Criminal law of the State.
The Court heard that the first convict, Esther Ini Udo, sold her newborn baby to one Oluchi Judith, now at large, for ₦300,000.
The Couple also bought a one-year old baby boy for ₦150,000 from Blessing and Uduak and resold the baby to Oluchi Judith for ₦400,000.
The convicts had pleaded not guilty to the charges, but the court found them guilty on all counts.
The presiding judge, Justice I. Ojukwu, of the Federal High Court, Calabar, sentenced the first convict, 32-year old Esther Ini Udo, to 15 years imprisonment and a fine of ₦2m on counts 1, 2 and 3.
The sentence will run concurrently, with effect from 1st April, 2026, the date of judgment.
The second convict, 34-year old Eyo Stephen Udo, will also serve a 15-year jail term with a ₦2m fine.
The court ordered NAPTIP to arrest Oluchi Judith and bring her before the court for prosecution in view of her involvement in several human trafficking cases.
The court frowned at the duo for selling babies to a trafficker for monetary reward.