BY ANAYO OKOLI
UMUAHIA — ABIAState government has demolished a five-storey building in Aba, housing a hospital, Ezuma Hospitals, allegedly used in the sale of babies.

Also, a branch of the hospital in Owerri, the ImoState capital, was last week raided by the police where 16 teenage pregnant girls were rescued.

Meantime, disturbed by the rampant cases of sales of babies in the state, especially in Aba and its environs, the state government has constituted a committee for the revalidation of motherless babies homes in the state said to be the usual conduit for the nefarious act.

Inaugurating the committee, Governor Theodore Orji charged members made up of operatives of the Department of State Services, DSS, Police, Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, NSCDC, and officials of the Ministry of Women Affairs, to fish out all illegal babies’ homes operating in the state.

He urged the committee to redeem the image of the state which was being stained by the ugly act.

He said: “It is your assignment to ensure that the image of our state is redeemed.”

Governor Orji also directed the committee to re-validate the registered ones and ensure that they meet the standard and comply to laid down rules of operations and regulations as stipulated by the laws in the state.

The State Commissioner for Women Affairs and Social Development, Mrs. Bridget Nwejike, on behalf of the committee, assured the governor that the committee would carry out the assignment diligently.