Rights groups wades in as couple accuses Catholic hospital of stealing, selling twin baby

The  Rule Of Law And Accountability Advocacy Centre (RULAAC) has weighed in on the allegation by one Mr. Obinna Alo and his wife, Mrs. Faith Obinna, accusing some staff of a Catholic hospital, St Raphael Divine Mercy Specialist Hospital, Ikorodu, Lagos, of stealing and possibly ‘selling off’ one of their twin babies.

The group noted the investigation at State Criminal Investigation Department (SCID), Alagbon Lagos based on a petition by the couple and the intervention by one Prince Comrade Olushola Adegboye, Chairman of Human Rights Defenders and Access to Justice Centre, Shasha, Lagos.

In a statement, RULAAC urged all the parties and interested groups and individuals to await the outcome of police investigation, adding, “if you feel that the investigation is taking too long, you should approach the police and find out from them what is delaying the conclusion of police investigation.”

RULAAC said it has spoken with the police and got assurance that the report would be out soon and will continue to be in touch with the police on the case.

Narrating the very detailed incident, RULAAC said its attention was recently drawn to a video sponsored by Prince Comrade Olushola Adegboye, Chairman of Human Rights Defenders and Access to Justice Centre, Shasha, Lagos where he featured Mrs. Faith Obinna on a live Facebook broadcast to narrate her case against some staff of a Catholic hospital, St Raphael Divine Mercy Specialist Hospital, Ikorodu, Lagos whom she accused of stealing and possibly ‘selling off’ one of her twin babies.

According to the group, “We also noted the comments made by Prince Comrade Olushola Adegboye in the course of the woman’s narrative during the live broadcast which attracted a large audience.

“In our quest to unravel the truth and ensure justice in the matter, we have sought audience with the authorities of the accused hospital, the Catholic Church, the Police at FCID Alagbon investigating the petition filed by the couple and others tangentially connected to the matter.

“We watched and carefully analysed the video sponsored by Prince Adegboye where Mrs. Obinna told her story.

In summary, she narrated her case and stated as follows:

1. that she registered for antenatal at St Raphael Divine Mercy Specialist Hospital, Ikorodu.
2. That she had a total of three scans at the hospital and the first Scan showed she was pregnant with twins and she tendered a photocopy of the scan report.

iii.      That the scans were ordered by two different Doctors at the hospital, and all of the three scans showed that she had twin babies. She mentioned two of the Doctors, namely, Dr Adeleke and Dr Uzoma who attended to her.

1. That on the day of her delivery, she was taken into the theatre after she paid the sum of twelve thousand, five hundred naira (N12,500) for the delivery bag.
2. That she didn’t have a net and her husband was asked to go and get it, but he said he would go after his wife’s delivery.
3. That she asked the doctor not to give her general anesthesia.

vii. That the medical personnel who delivered her told her that it was only one baby contrary to the scan results and that the personnel immediately called her husband to come and see that it was only one baby.

viii.    That although she was eventually given general anesthesia, contrary to her request, she was still able to see lightly when the first baby was taken out but she could not see further than her immediate environment.

1. That her pastor’s wife was there with her during the CS operation
2. That she was at the hospital up to day four when she was supposed to be discharged, but her husband refused that she would go, and then went and reported a case of a missing baby at the police station.
3. That she asked another woman who was also operated on if she was given any injection (general anesthesia), and the woman answered in the negative and that she was awake all through her own delivery.

xii. That the Chief medical Director asked her to take the one baby and forgo her claims.

day she was operated upon, and that one of them, known as Ezinne congratulated her and asked her how her twins were doing and that the other nurse tapped her and they stood aside and started talking in hush tones.

xiv. That her husband saw one woman who was running away with a baby that resembled her own, and that a Yoruba woman also said she saw the woman running away with the baby.

1. That when she eventually wanted to go, the hospital said she should not go and directed the gateman not to let her go.

xvi. That the hospital charged her one hundred and seventy thousand Niara (N170, 000) out of which, her husband made a deposit of one hundred thousand Naira (N100, 000). And that they refused to pay the remaining balance because the hospital refused to give them the scan result that showed that she had twins.

xvii.  That the Reverend Father at the hospital told her that there was a scanning error which misled the hospital personnel into believing she was pregnant with twins

xviii.  That the hospital asked them how much they wanted, and they told them they didn’t want money, they needed their baby.

xix.  That they have been waiting for the report of the police investigation and that their lawyer told them that the police would need the sum of two hundred thousand Naira to release the report of police investigation.

1. That she contacted TVC and the crew visited them and told them that, contrary to their claims that the hospital attempted to offer them money, the hospital said they demanded money to forget the matter.

xxi. That the hospital has been threatening her and that two men drove in a car to her shop, and she knew the faces of the two persons and that one of the Doctors that operated on her was one of them.

xxii. That she was advised by a staff of the hospital who lives near her house to relocate for her safety.

“We also noted the reaction and utterances by Prince Comrade Olushola Adegboye.

In his reaction, Prince Adegboye allegedly rained abuses on the woman’s lawyer for informing the woman that the police demanded money to release police investigation report.

“He was also threatened to ‘sue the Catholic Church and the Pope’, and solicited public financial donations to enable his organization pursue justice for the couple and posted his accounts details.”

RULAAC said the allegation of child theft is a serious allegation and that only an evil person would want to cover up the truth or facts of this case.

“Police investigation would provide the basis to prove or disprove the allegation based on credible evidence. The step taken by the police in liaising with the Nigeria Medical Association (NMA) is welcome and indicates how professional the police have been in the investigation and how far the police want to go in unraveling the truth. The professional intervention of the NMA is crucial in determining this case.”

On the intervention by Prince Adegboye, RULAAC noted that among the cardinal principles of human rights investigation and advocacy are open mindedness, impartiality, objectivity, integrity and fair hearing which entails willingness to hear from all the parties.

“The intervention of any professional human rights organisation must accord with these principles. We found it strange that Prince Comrade Adegboye said repeatedly during the live broadcast that, based on Mrs. Faith Obinna’s testimony alone, that he concluded that ‘all the evidence are there’ and that there was no need to hear from the hospital.

“It is unprofessional for anyone to seek to reach conclusions without hearing from all sides to an issue. It is a rule of natural justice that all sides must be heard. Fair hearing is one of the cardinal due process safeguards.

“Also, Adegboye’s attack and tirades against the lawyer to Mrs. Obinna during the live broadcast was also unwarranted and unnecessary. It was more of a distraction to the main issue,” the rights group stated.