IMO State children's welfare officials have taken seven children into custody after their father tied them to a wheelbarrow and offered them to sale to willing buyers because he could no longer afford to take care of them.
Yesterday, Israel Dike, who resides on Egbu Road in Ugwu Ekwema in Owerri, the Imo State capital tied the children to the wheelbarrow and paraded them round the city for sale. Mr Dike, 44, who originally comes from Odenkume in Obowo Local Government Area, was, however, intercepted by officials from the Imo State Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development.
Of the seven children, three were triplets and exasperated with the high cost of maintaining them, Mr Dike decided he had to sell them. He tied their hands securely to the wheelbarrow and began soliciting for buyers saying he was fed up with his dwindling economic fortunes.
One ministry official said: “Following a tip-off, a high powered team led by the commissioner for women affairs Nma Onyechere, quickly went and rescued the children.”
According to Mr Dike, he planned selling some of them with a view to enabling him take proper care of others. He lamented the fact that Governor Rochas Okorocha put him in the mess he has found himself today.
Mr Dike said: “Owelle Okorocha is the cause of what I am passing through today. He made me a promise in the past and has failed to redeem it till today.”
Commissioner Onyechere described Mr Dike as a depressed man, who is mentally deranged. She also urged Mr Dike’s wife to go for family planning, promising that the government would carefully ascertain the level of the man’s mental problem.
In addition the commissioner said her ministry would find a way of giving out the children to foster parents with a view to ensuring their adequate care and their education. It is expected that the children would be put up for adoption soon.
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