FIJ
Multiple reports were made in the past to the police in Anambra about the sale of babies by Reverend D. C. Ogo, the founder of Arrows of God Orphanage home, but she was never prosecuted because of her connections and wealth, a security source in the southeastern state has told FIJ.
For 19 months, ‘Fisayo Soyombo, the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of FIJ, had studied, trailed, investigated and eventually penetrated the orphanage after receiving a tip-off in December 2021 that one baby at Arrows of God cost N1.5 million. He eventually bought his in July 2023 for N2 million.
After recently coming in contact with FIJ’s undercover investigation, published as a multimedia story and followed up with a documentary, the security source reached out to say FIJ’s revelations were already known to the police in Anambra, but they alone can explain why they did not crack down on the orphanage before now.
“That Arrows of God in Anambra had been selling babies under the guise of adoption is not something the police discovered in your investigation. It has been going on for more than a decade,” said the source, who asked not to be named.
“In 2017, we were told about lots of pregnant women at Arrows of God’s former office at New Nkisi Road, Government Residential Area (GRA), Onitsha. Anyone who doubts this should go to their Arrows of God’s former office and ask the landlord.
“Reverend Ogo had so many pregnant women. Most of the pregnant girls in Onitsha, she transferred them from Lagos. Some she moved the other way. Whenever girls went to her for help, she would hide them inside cars and transfer them from Lagos to Onitsha.”
She added that several people had reported Rev. Ogo to the Central Police Station (CPS), Onitsha, but “because of her money and influence, she always got away”.
For context, Rev Ogo is a retired lieutenant-colonel, an ordained Minister, a former Principal of the Nigerian Army School of Nursing and Midwifery and a former chief matron.
“The police arrested her a couple of times, but she always got out. If they arrested her today, she got out tomorrow,” she said.
“She had so many pregnant women and she would forcefully — I repeat, forcefully — make them drop their babies for sale, all in the name of adoption. There was credible evidence that Rev. Ogo ended up offering the ones who cooperated a bag of rice and cash sums ranging from N50,000 to N100,000, depending on the expenses she incurred during their labour. I’m talking about the year 2016, 2017, 2018.
“The complaints the police got were that any lady who refused to drop her baby became Rev. Ogo’s enemy; she sent such ladies away from the home.
“There was a certain Amaka in the Ministry of Women Affairs who used to sign illegal papers for her. I’m talking 2016–17; I don’t know if she’s still there. The court Rev. Ogo used to use is along Enugu Road, before CPS. They used to do it just how they did it in your investigation. She has been doing this for long; it did not start today. I mean, who keeps harbouring pregnant women and, once they refuse to release their newborn babies for her, sends them out of the orphanage?
“Some of these girls, the ones in Onitsha, are naive. She takes them in and promises them a better life in Lagos. She always made the girls believe that the babies would be a burden to them, and she could take the babies off them while sending the girls to Lagos to begin their lives afresh.”
She added that the nanny captured in FIJ’s video was neck-deep in the practice and should be picked up.
“You see that nanny in your video, she has been with her for so long,” she said. “That nanny should be arrested because she knows so much. Rev. Ogo has been doing this for long, and she has shattered so many lives and destinies.”
Earlier, a source very familiar with the operations of Arrows of God had told FIJ that officials of the ministry of youth and social development in Lagos had confronted Rev. Ogo with allegations of selling babies, but they appeared not to have proof.
“In 2010, 2011, or thereabouts, the ministry officials confronted her,” said the source. “But she was defiant in her response to those claims and I don’t think they had hard evidence like FIJ obtained in the undercover investigation.”
Rev. Ogo is currently at large, having failed to honour an invitation by the Anambra State ministry of youth and social development.
When FIJ contacted DSP Ikenga Anthony, spokesman of the police in Anambra, for comments, he said: “I don’t have such reports before me. There is no such report before me.”
THIS STORY FIRST APPEARED IN FIJ
