Parents, syndicate make money from baby’s cancer

• Father builds house, buys motorcycles from proceeds

Police in Lagos have rescued a two-yar-old baby girl from a syndicate making money from the lump on her face. The baby, Chinasa Ananko, was rescued in conjunction with Mrs Jacinta Nwakaego Nworie of Hands that Care Foundation. The syndicate, which includes her parents, explored the baby’s health condition to get money from individuals moved by her plight. Police have also arrested six members of the syndicate using Life Care Foundation as smokescreen to defraud people.
The suspects are identified as Chukwukka Eze (24), Amaka Ani (20), Chinasa Eze (22), Monday Nnoni (27), Vincent Okoro (25) and Tochukwu Obi (24). Also in custody is the baby’s mother, Mrs Victoria Ananko. But the Managing Director of the fake charity foundation, identified as Mr Samuel Ependu, has fled since the arrest of his workers. The police also said they would soon go to Anambra State to arrest the baby’s father, Mr Innocent Ananko.
Mrs Ananko disclosed that since they started the business last August, her husband, a former struggling commercial motorcyclist, has started building a house.

 According to her, the man has also bought new motorcycles, among other things.
In less than a year, the baby had been dragged through nine states, under scorching sun, as the syndicate used her to beg for alms on the pretence that the money would be spent on her surgery.
In the course of moving from one state to the other, a former member of the group, identified as Emeka, impregnated Mrs Ananko. But Ependu forced her to go for abortion, using part of her own share of the money they realised. The woman claimed that Emeka raped her twice before she became pregnant.
Police also recovered wands of N20 notes and other denominations, tied with a band, totalling N18,585 from Mrs. Ananko. They also recovered N32,140 from the suspects, being proceeds for the day. The state Police Public Relations Officer, Ngozi Braide, confirmed the arrested.
She said: “You usually find them in traffic jams. They carry enlarge pictures of sick persons, begging for alms. It is now a business. Owner of such network now recruit people to work for them. “They go to villages, looking for people with strange sicknesses. They will promise the parents of the sick person that when they get to the cities, they would take care of the child.”
Braide explained that Baby Chinasa was a victim of such a scam and was picked because she had a lump on her face, which she was born with. The PPRO added that while the baby was taken from one place to the other to beg, her mother was kept in a hotel. According to her, when the team comes back, Ananko gets her share, while Ependu sends money to the girl’s father, pays his workers for the day and orders that the rest should be kept in his account.
The suspects confessed that in a day, they used to make close to N30,000. The mother is given N500 or N1,000 depending on how much they make per day. The members are also paid between N400 and N1,000, while the rest goes to Ependu, who told them that he was deducting N5,000 daily for the girl’s surgery. But the N5,000 also goes into his account.
The members, who used to stay in three rooms in hotels in any state, pay the bills daily from the day’s proceeds. “About 90 per cent of such people you see begging in traffic are fraudsters. These kids are victims, but with real problems.
This group was arrested after a Good Samaritan, Jacinta Nwakaego, alerted police. They are enriching themselves. They would be charged for human trafficking and contemporary slavery.” The fake foundation apparently has different branches and groups in Nigeria. The leader of those arrested in Lagos, Chukwuka, claimed not to know that it was a bogus scheme. He said he was pushing wheelbarrow before he was enlisted.
According to him, he was making N900 daily, but after Ependu invited him to join the fake charity organisation, he was earning between N400 and N1,000 daily. Chukwuka enjoys the new trade because it is not as stressful as wheelbarrow work. He said: “Our boss comes every three days to collect the proceeds. The last time she came to collect money from us was Tuesday.
The money was just N15,000 because we didn’t work for days. Chinasa was sick. “We did not take her to hospital. But we bought her medicine from a chemist. Our boss said that after making some money, we would take Chinasa to orthopaedic hospital in Enugu for operation.”
Narrating how Ependu came into their lives, Mrs Ananko, who understands only Igbo Language, said someone who knew them directed the man to them in Anambra State. She said: “Ependu discussed with my husband. He promised to assist us with Chinasa. Chinasa was born with that lump on her face. My first child is a boy, Okwudili.
I don’t know my age or my son’s age. I followed them from state to state. I told my husband that they were using Chinasa to make money, but he didn’t say anything. “When Emeka got me pregnant, Ependu told my husband and since then he had not been picking my calls. Ependu collected N8,000 from me, took me to hospital where they did the abortion for me. When he saw I was discussing with one of his workers, he came over, slapped me, saying I was chasing men. He told my husband.
“I told my husband that I wanted to come home, but he said I should stay with Ependu and his foundation even if it is for 20 years. It is from the money they give me that I feed myself and Chinasa. There are drugs that she also needs. I buy them from the money they give me.” But Nwakaego said that since the arrest of the suspects, the leader of the organisation had been calling her, threatening her life.
She said: “He called me twice, offering me N200,000 if I would just forget about the matter. He told me that he had branches all over Nigeria, that he had been arrested several times and still walked out of police custody. He described himself as wind, which nobody can trap. He asked me if I wanted him to be carrying guns to rob, that this was his way of making a living.
He said I was risking my life for nothing. “I consulted a doctor who told me that Chinasa needs about N5 million for an operation. The doctor advised we take her to India. We don’t have that sort of money.” Incidentally, the Chairman of the Police Service Commission, Sir Mike Okiro, is the chairman of Hands that Care Foundation.

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