By Eric  Ugbor

ABA—MRS. Gold Ereumunna, a traditional birth attendant in Aba, Abia State, has cried out to the Inspector General of Police, IGP, Mr. Solomon Arase to save her from annual molestation and raiding of her home by policemen in Abia.

IGP-Arase

Ereumunna, who made the appeal, yesterday, in Aba, said, that the policemen who have formed the habit of raiding her maternity home annually claim to be doing so on the pretext of investigating baby factories.

Ereumunna, who operates in Abayi Umueze, in Osisioma, said, that the Police raided her maternity home in December 2014 and carried off day-old children, leaving her to bail them one by one.

She stressed that in the same month of December 2015, the Police returned in her absence to take away her patients who just delivered babies and took them to state CID office in Umuahia.

She said they told her that they got a petition alleging that she operates a baby factory which she said she had never done and cannot do because it was against her religious persuasion.

The woman said that the policemen come and go, only to return without concluding or disclosing their findings on her operations, which she said, was disgusting.

Ereumunna, who holds Diploma in Public Health and is a trained traditional birth attendant and registered to practise, noted that there was no need for the Police’s annual harassment of her clients.

She said that she started her work in her village over 10 years ago and later moved to Aba town because more people were patronizing her from the city, hence the need for nearness to them.

She denied police allegations that she was not qualified to practise as a traditional birth attendant, having been registered with the body of practitioners.

Mrs. Cynthia Ojukwu, one of the pregnant women, who was at the maternity home when Vanguard visited after the police raid, said, that she was there to take herbal medicine from the maternity home when the uniformed men stormed it.

She said that when the police came and asked everybody to enter the vehicle, she asked them, “what happened?” but no answer came from them

Ojukwu said that she refused to enter because she did not do anything and nobody told them their crime before whisking many of them off to Osisioma Police Station and later, Umuahia.

She said that they forcefully moved 11 women two of who gave birth that morning after beating their husbands for refusing to let them take their wives and the newborn babies away.

Another woman, who pleaded anonymity said, that her friend recommended the maternity to her after the hospital she was using told her that she would undergo a Caesarean section.

She said that she, however, went to the maternity where Mrs. Ereumunna gave her herbs that helped her give birth peacefully without an operation.

She said that from her friend’s testimony of the woman, she was not known for dirty baby business, hence most of her clients were married women in their husband’s homes.

When contacted on the matter, the Abia State Police PRO, Udeviotu Onyeke confirmed that the policemen arrested many women including newly born babies during the raid.