THERE must be something inherently wrong with the minds of those who engage in stealing and selling children. It is especially troubling now that investigations have revealed that they not only abduct and exchange other people’s children for money, but also sell their own children! It was once unimaginable, but that is the reality the recent investigation, arrest, and parade of a child-trafficking syndicate by the Oyo State Police Command has thrown up.
The suspects allegedly involved in this criminal and morally reprehensible act are said to have organised themselves into a multi-state human trafficking syndicate. The ring reportedly specialises in stealing children at worship centres and at social and cultural functions, keeping them in custody while awaiting buyers for their ‘merchandise’. Unfortunately, in this case, six of the stolen children, aged three years and below, died in custody, while 13 survived. But for the arrest of the main suspect, the deaths of the six children would not have represented a total loss to the criminals, as the bodies of the deceased would have been passed on to money ritualists. This is the asocial and horrible ‘enterprise’ that some mindless citizens have elected to engage in 21st-century Nigeria. It is simply horrific.
This is a strange and scary development: people stealing and selling children, and sometimes including their own. One of the traffickers reportedly sold her own twins, claiming that God had given her the gift of pregnancy and that she got pregnant so easily, so she sold the children if their fathers did not accept them. This, undoubtedly, is a marker of societal degeneration. Some people’s moral values have become so warped that there are questions about their humanity and sanity. There are too many people out there who will do anything for money. Why would any person of sound mind steal, exchange for money, or cause impressionable children-fellow human beings-to be used for money rituals? It is utterly bizarre and barbaric. Horrible cases of child trafficking and baby factories, prevalent in the South-East and South-South and once seen by many in the South-West as mere statistics, are now happening under their noses. And in a region reputed for elaborate social, cultural, and religious functions, which investigations have shown are fertile ground for traffickers to abduct victims, citizens must be extra vigilant.
We commend the police for busting this multi-state human trafficking syndicate, but they should widen their investigative dragnet because this group is unlikely to be the only one in the region. There may be other syndicates perpetrating similar heinous crimes in the South-West. The criminals must be fished out, apprehended, and made to face the full wrath of the law. This is a monstrous challenge that must not be allowed to fester, as it has the potential to damage the future of innocent children and portray the country and its people, locally and internationally, as lawless and savage.
It is particularly saddening that in this case, six of the abducted children died in the custody of their captors. But that is not unexpected given their age. Some were trafficked shortly after birth or before they reached three years of age. Apparently, the suspects cared nothing about taking care of the vulnerable children while in captivity. It is callous. And for the delinquents who claim they sold their own children because their fathers would not accept responsibility, their argument does not hold water because alternatives exist. First, there are many privately owned orphanages in every state of the federation that are willing and able to relieve mothers of the responsibilities of motherhood if they are not ready to raise their children. Second, state governments have schemes to care for abandoned children. Therefore, selling your own child is a poor choice that smacks of plain cruelty.
The two main factors reputed to drive the abduction, sale, and purchase of children are poverty and the desperation of parents who cannot have biological children. Yet, neither of these factors is tenable or capable of explaining away the egregiously abhorrent conduct that child trafficking represents in any civilised society. There is no level of misery or depravity that should drive anyone to steal children and trade in human beings. That is the turf of reckless people with fundamentally flawed character, the kind of people who will readily engage in precipitate actions, including killing, just to make money, even if they are not poor.
Again, parents who cannot have biological children are not without alternatives. They can engage surrogate mothers or make a recourse to adoption via official channels, if their objective is honest and it is simply about filling the void in their lives without sinister intentions. There is no reason to patronise criminals whose actions inflict enduring pain and distress in one family while pretending to bring smiles to the faces of members of another. It is cruel and preposterous. There can be no rationalisation of human trafficking of any hue, but it degrades our collective humanity even more when the victims are impressionable children, as in this case. This patently base conduct reflects the criminally selfish and poor choices of irresponsible adults who are themselves products of a society experiencing the near collapse of moral order, decency, and decorum.
We strongly urge a painstaking official inquiry into this dastardly incident. All culprits, including sellers, enablers, and buyers of children, should be apprehended, diligently prosecuted, and sanctioned to the fullest extent of the law if found guilty. It is disturbing that perpetrators and beneficiaries of child trafficking, driven by a vaunting quest for filthy lucre and an aversion to doing things the right way, are bent on reliving, albeit locally, the loathsome transatlantic slave trade of the 16th century, which was abolished some three centuries later.