WHILE the world continues to exist, wonders will never cease. In Lagos yesterday, the action of Mr. and Mrs. Okwuchukwu Ibekwe, who sold their own baby for the sum of N500,000, is the latest instance of man’s inhumanity to his fellow being, even of his own blood.

Mr. Ibekwe is among the dozens of suspected armed robbers, cultists, rapists and impersonators paraded by the Lagos State police command at a rare media briefing attended by all divisional police officers and area commanders in Lagos State Police Command.

Ibekwe and his wife sold their five-month-old baby boy to one Chinelo in Ihiala, Anambra State.

According to Ibekwe, who confessed freely to newsmen amidst tears, “my wife is the one who led me into all this and she has run away leaving me in this mess. Because of the fact that things are difficult, one of my friends, Chinelo approached me and convinced me to sell my child.

My wife agreed to it. The child was sold and Chinelo gave me N250,000 and gave my wife N150,000. I didn’t know how much he sold my baby but the police told us my baby was sold for N500,000.

“I was arrested by the police at my house on No. 23, Shinaba Street, Iba Town here in Lagos. Right now, my wife has escaped and Chinelo is nowhere to be found. I am really ashamed of myself,” he lamented.

No fewer than 47 suspected armed robbers and 14 cultists were arrested by the command during the Yuletide with 16 weapons of various calibres and 40 ammunition recovered.

Lagos Police boss, Fatai Owoseni, who addressed newsmen, noted that the command was elated at the fact that there was no major criminal incident in the state during the Christmas.

“Apart from the ugly incident in Ketu area of Lagos, where a mobile policeman shot dead three individuals and killed himself, the period was generally peaceful. There was drastic reduction of robbery/stealing on traffic during the Yuletide.

“The tempo would be sustained and improved upon to ensure continuous security and safety of Lagos residents.

However, there is increase in fire incidents in the past few weeks. The command uses this opportunity to appeal to members of the public to avoid storing highly inflammable or combustible materials in their homes,” he said.

Owoseni also hinted that raids of some criminal hideouts in the state also led to the arrest of no fewer than 1,110 suspects. Out of these suspects arrested, however, 745 were convicted while the court discharged others.

He added that the police impounded 1,055 motorcycles within the period under review.