…suspect and mortuary staff trade blame
…..LUTH records showed 40 unclaimed bodies of children in March, 26 in April, 2010

 Surprise , is the adjective that  aptly described the expression on the  faces of a team of policemen last Saturday at Agbowa area of Ikorodu, Lagos, as contents of three ‘Ghana must go’ bags were discovered to be human flesh later identified as the remains of unclaimed babies from the Lagos University Teaching Hospital(LUTH).

The unclaimed dead babies whose ages were between a day- old and 14 years  had stiffened with most of them brown in colour, owing to long stay in the mortuary.

Apparently acting on instinct, one of the policemen, a Corporal, reportedly flagged the  vehicle down during a stop- and -search routine work and demanded that the concealed contents inside the bags be revealed. Rather than oblige the policemen, owner of the bags, later identified as Mr Shuaib Akande , reportedly started by identifying himself as a contractor with LUTH , an act that further aroused suspicion amongst the operatives as they insisted  he must reveal the contents.

 And when, at last he did, the policemen were taken aback with one of them exclaiming Chineke mo(my God)in Igbo dialect. At that moment, effort by Akande to explain how he got the dead bodies and where he was taking them to, fell on deaf ears, for he was subsequently whisked into a police waiting van to the station.

In this interview with Crime Guard, the 50-year-old father of five, revealed that he was on his way to bury the dead bodies in a bush along Agbowa road when he ran into the waiting hands of the policemen. His next statement, took everyone by surprise as he accused some staff of the Morbid Anatomy department of LUTH of being  architects of his sojourn to the police station.

ENDLESS WAITING
Parade of the Ogun state- born suspect was billed for 11.30am on Monday. However , anxious journalists arrived to the venue to wait endlessly without explanations.   However , it was later revealed that the delay was due to the absence of some staffers of LUTH suspected to be also involved in the human parts discovery saga .

 The staff numbering four, as reliably gathered by Crime Guard, were released on bail the previous day , with a firm promise that they will report at the Police Command Headquarters the next day(Monday). The endless wait for the staff took well over three hours without any sight of them, until a car later pulled up, announcing their arrival. Journalists were however saddened when it was discovered that only the head of the concerned department arrived without the suspected persons.

… ACCUSATION 
Apparently regretting his action, Akande in a low tone accused some staff of Morbid Anatomy Department of the hospital of bringing what he described as ‘shame’ on him.   According to him, “ I had to take this risk because of the bribe some staff of Morbid Anatomy Department collected from me.

 I have been a contractor with LUTH for close to three years. My responsibility is to evacuate unclaimed dead bodies of children and thereafter, take them to the cemetery for burial. But anytime I get such contract, I would be asked to part with some amount by some of the staff.  I usually obliged them because if I did not, they would not give me the job next time and that is the only means I have to sustain my family.

So on this day in question, precisely last Friday, I had gone to collect money for the evacuation of the dead babies for the months of March and April. This is even the quotation”.( raising up a document which showed the names, ages and numbers of the dead children).  They were between one day- old and 14 years and totalling sixty-six. A breakdown of the number showed that LUTH recorded forty unclaimed dead children in the month of March while twenty-six were recorded in April.

Continuing, Akande stated, “ usually one of the officers crosschecks the number of the corpses of dead babies and gives me go ahead . So after going through my document that day , he said I should go and collect the money and come back to see him. That has been the practise  . It is not just once, twice or thrice. I can not count the number of times he and other staff of the department had collected money from me.

After collecting the money which was N185,000, I gave Mr Abraham the sum of N50,000, I gave Mr Everest N40,000 and two staff in account N10,000 each

ALTERNATIVE PLAN
Akande, as gathered, was expected to use the money to get space at the cemetery and bury the unclaimed bodies. But he explained that after allegedly bribing the staff, he was left with less the amount used to buy space and sought alternative means of doing away with the dead bodies.

According to him,  “After sharing the money round, I was left with just little which was not enough to buy space at the cemetery to bury the dead bodies. So I decided to take a risk.   On Saturday after the dead babies were handed over to me,
I headed straight for Agbowa with the intention of burying them in a bush when I was arrested”
Asked why  he chose Agbowa of all other places, he simply replied by saying he just wanted to take  a risk. Also asked if that had been his practice and why he had to part with well over the amount needed to purchase space at the cemetery, he
said; “ This is my first time of finding alternative means to dispose the bodies. Before now, I used to bury the dead bodies at Atan cemetery.  Before it was privatised, space at the cemetery  was free but now, a  space goes for between ninety and hundred thousand naira. I had to bribe them because if I did not , my quotation would not be approved next time. And like I told you, this is the only job I have”

COUNTER ACCUSATION
Standing at the other end was Mr Abraham Ekome. He kept shaking his head and beamed a smile of  discontentment . When approached, he reacted shapely, saying , “ that man is just lying. I never asked him to give me any money and have never collected any money from him.   I am the Principal Head Assistant , Morbid Anatomy Department. Our department deals with  unclaimed dead babies. He does not pay or collect money from me. My job is once I get approval, I arrange for evacuation of the unclaimed bodies. My job is simply , to scrutinise quotation brought by contractors and issue to whoever meets our demand. He is not the only contractor, we have three to four others and when I approve , they go and collect money and evacuate the unclaimed bodies. If I did  not approve, nobody removes the bodies.

I am not denying the fact that I know him because he is one of our contractors but he has never given me money before.   . He is merely lying. If he has the proof let him show it to the whole world. His case is like a drowning man that is looking for who to sink with him”, posited the 51-year-old Delta state born.

DRAMA
At this point, Akande, walked slowly to where Ekome was. He placed his index finger on his tongue and pointed it upwards, saying, “ before God and man , it is better to say the truth. Anytime I collect quotation , he would always call to say if
I collect my money that I should come and see him.

The money I gave to him were in N200 denominations.    It was done behind closed door”.  You said I should prove it. My proof is that he should swear by the almighty God that he did not collect any money from me. He usually told me that if I wanted my job to continue, I should always come to settle him. He is the officer in-charge of the mortuary. Every other staff in the department is under him. Mr Ekome, I said swear that you did not collect any money from me”, Akande insisted.

In his response, Ekome maintained, “ I did not collect any money from you. I only look at the list to ensure everything is intact. This I do to ensure that the authentic number of children were carried and to avoid releasing a fresh baby whose parents are likely to come and claim them”

Head, Mobid Anatomy Department, Prof  Kumbi Banjo who was also at the command confirmed that Akande was their contractor. She explained the unclaimed babies were children who died in the process of  being administered treatment to, whose parents, unfortunately did not have the financial power to bury them. “ It is a societal problem . Some people do not have the finance to bury their children . It may be also because they do not have money to buy space at the cemetery.

Reacting to the indictment of some of her subordinates, she assured that the case would be looked into, with a view to determining the claim. Said she, “ This is something we are looking into and if we find any of them culpable, we will deal decisively with them”. Asked if the practice of evacuation of unclaimed babies was appropriate, she kept mute and simply stated that management of LUTH would look into the whole matter.

But Lagos State Police Public Relations Officer, Mr Frank Mba said the command was also investigating the matter , particularly the indictment of LUTH staff, saying “ we would not leave any stone unturned in this investigation.

He however, clarified that so far , investigation had shown that the suspect was not a ritualist, a murderer or a trafficker in human parts as earlier speculated.