Monday, 6 May 2013
The proprietor of "My mummy orphanage" home in Benin, Edo State, Rev. Osayi Lato, has denied receiving the sum of N900,000 in exchange for a two-month-old baby girl, from an American based in Nigeria.
Rev Lato, in a statement in Benin, said: “The truth of the matter is that I never received any money from anybody in exchange for a baby. The allegation is false, unfounded, baseless and without any iota of truth. I am fully aware and abreast with the Child Rights Law and Adoption Procedure.”
Lamenting that her orphanage home was closed down by the Edo State Ministry of Women Affairs without proper investigation, while she was arrested by officers of the Department of State Security, DSS, detained and later released, she said that the officials of the state government distributed the children to other orphanage homes without recourse to their health condition and management.
She said: “I have never run foul of the law since I began the operation of My Mummy Orphanage. We do not sell babies in this orphanage as it is against the Child Rights Law and Orphjanage Policy. It is the Ministry of Women Affairs that is vested with the powers to formalise the process of adoption.”
Narrating the genesis of her problem, Mrs. Lato said “A few weeks ago, a lady named Becky was introduced to me by her relative, who is based in the United States of America requesting for a baby to be adopted.”
She explained to them the procedure for child adoption in the state and that adoption was free.
