RULAAC preliminary report on Ikorodu missing baby

Preliminary Comments by RULE OF LAW AND ACCOUNTABILITY ADVOCACY CENTRE (RULAAC) on the allegation by one Mr. Obinna Alo and his wife Mrs. Faith Obinna accusing some staff of a Catholic hospital, St Raphael Divine Mercy Specialist Hospital, Ikorodu, Lagos of stealing and possibly ‘selling’ off one of their twin babies; the investigation at State Criminal Investigation Department (SCID), Alagbon Lagos based on a petition by the couple; and the intervention by one Prince Comrade Olushola Adegboye, Chairman of Human Rights Defenders and Access to Justice Centre, Shasha, Lagos.

Background
RULAAC’s attention was recently drawn to a video sponsored by one Prince Comrade Olushola Adegboye, Chairman of Human Rights Defenders and Access to Justice Centre, Shasha, Lagos where he featured Mrs. Faith Obinna on a live Facebook broadcast to narrate her case against some staff of a Catholic hospital, St Raphael Divine Mercy Specialist Hospital, Ikorodu, Lagos whom she accused of stealing and possibly ‘selling’ off one of her twin babies.

We also noted the comments made by Prince Comrade Olushola Adegboye in the course of the woman’s narrative during the live broadcast which attracted a large audience.

In our quest to unravel the truth and ensure justice in the matter, we have sought audience with the authorities of the accused hospital, the catholic Church, the Police at FCID Alagbon investigating the petition filed by the couple and others tangentially connected to the matter.

We watched and carefully analysed the video sponsored by Prince Comrade Olushola Adegboye where Mrs. Faith told her story.

In summary, Mrs. Faith Obinna narrated her case and stated as follows:  

1. that she registered for antenatal at St Raphael Divine Mercy Specialist Hospital, Ikorodu.
2. That she had a total of three scans at the hospital and the first Scan showed she was pregnant with twins and she tendered a photocopy of the scan report.
3. That the scans were ordered by two different Doctors at the hospital, and all of the three scans showed that she had twin babies. She mentioned two of the Doctors, namely, Dr Adeleke and Dr Uzoma who attended to her.
4. That on the day of her delivery, she was taken into the theatre after she paid the sum of twelve thousand, five hundred naira (N12,500) for the delivery bag.
5. That she didn’t have a net and her husband was asked to go and get it, but he said he would go after his wife’s delivery.
6. That she asked the doctor not to give her general anesthesia.
7. That the medical personnel who delivered her told her that it was only one baby contrary to the scan results and that the personnel immediately called her husband to come and see that it was only one baby.
8. That although she was eventually given general anesthesia, contrary to her request, she was still able to see lightly when the first baby was taken out but she could not see further than her immediate environment.
9. That her pastor’s wife was there with her during the CS operation
10. That she was at the hospital up to day four when she was supposed to be discharged, but her husband refused that she would go, and then went and reported a case of a missing baby at the police station.
11. That she asked another woman who was also operated on if she was given any injection (general anesthesia), and the woman answered in the negative and that she was awake all through her own delivery.
12. That the Chief medical Director asked her to take the one baby and forgo her claims.
13. That on the 5th day, she saw two of the nurses who were on duty the day she was operated upon, and that one of them, known as Ezinne congratulated her and asked her how her twins were doing and that the other nurse tapped her and they stood aside and started talking in hush tones.
14. That her husband saw one woman who was running away with a baby that resembled her own, and that a Yoruba woman also said she saw the woman running away with the baby.
15. That when she eventually wanted to go, the hospital said she should not go and directed the gateman not to let her go.
16. That the hospital charged her one hundred and seventy thousand Niara (N170,000) out of which, her husband made a deposit of one hundred thousand Naira (N100,000). And that they refused to pay the remaining balance because the hospital refused to give them the scan result that showed that she had twins.
17. That the Reverend father at the hospital told her that there was a scanning error which misled the hospital personnel into believing she was pregnant with twins
18. That the hospital asked them how much they wanted, and they told them they didn’t want money, they needed their baby.
19. That they have been waiting for the report of the police investigation and that their lawyer told them that the police would need the sum of two hundred thousand Naira to release the report of police investigation.
20. That she contacted TVC and the crew visited them and told them that, contrary to their claims that the hospital attempted to offer them money, the hospital said they demanded money to forget the matter.
21. That the Hospital has been threatening her and that two men drove in a car to her shop, and she knew the faces of the two persons and that one of the Doctors that operated on her was one of them.
22. That she was advised by a staff of the hospital who lives near her house to relocate for her safety.

*We also noted the reaction and utterances by Prince Comrade Olushola Adegboye*
In his reaction, Prince Comrade Olushola Adegboye, Chairman of Human Rights Defenders and Access to Justice Centre, Shasha, Lagos who sponsored the video broadcast said 

i. ‘We are going to rearrest everybody. They should be in the cell while investigation continues’.

ii. We are going to close down the hospital until the conclusion of investigation. 

iii. He called and rained abuses on the woman’s lawyer for informing the woman that the police demanded money to release police investigation report. 

iv. He said ‘we are going to sue the Catholic Church and the Pope’.

v. He solicited public financial donations to enable his organization pursue justice for the couple and posted his accounts details.

vi. He further said ‘The evidence are here.  … we don’t need to hear from the hospital’. I don’t think there’s any reason to call the doctor…

vii. He narrated his experience as an asylum in holland: how he was used for medical experiment for medical students as an asylum in holland.

viii. He reiterated ‘We will sue the pope; the bishop is too little for us to sue. We are talking about catholic. This is an international case’.

In the course of the exchange between Adegboye and the woman’s lawyer, the woman interjected and stated that her lawyer had not collect any money from her since he started helping her with the case.

Then Adegboye called the former AIG FCID Alagbon in charge of FCID Alagbon when the case was reported and inquired about the money the woman said her lawyer told them the police demanded and then said he found out that the police did not actually ask for the money.

The AIG said investigation had been concluded and that the case file had been referred to the Legal Section of the FCID for advice.  He added that the Legal Section was liaising with the Nigeria Medical Association on the matter.

*Th Catholic Church’s response*

The Catholic Church has denied and dismissed the woman’s claims as untrue and condemned what it described as malicious social media campaign of calumny and blackmail against the hospital and the catholic church by the complainants and one self-acclaimed human rights activist.

*The unedited narrative of the hospital is reproduced below*

*THE ALLEGATION THAT OUR DOCTORS STOLE BABY AT OUR HOSPITAL*

Thank you, Sir, for asking about the story making round on social media that our doctors stole a baby in the theatre after a CS.  It is far away from the truth. I am not making this as a statement on behalf of the hospital but rather a confidential communication to help you understand our situation.

The couple are just carrying unnecessary propaganda. They had since reported us to Force CID Alagbon who have sent plain cloth CIDs to our hospital without our knowing it and subsequently invited the staff involved from our hospital several times to Alagbon for interrogation. They had also been to our hospital a number of times during investigation. We fully submitted to police investigation and answered their questions truthfully.   We inquired from the police and they informed us that they are done with their investigation.

Management, as will be expected, in a mission hospital managed by religious men and women, embarked on full-blown investigation to discover the truth of the matter. Certainly, if Management had found any intent to do evil or factual evil done or connivance to commit a crime, the Rev Sisters and priest managing the hospital would have distanced the Hospital and the Catholic Church from such sordid act, and personally handed over the culprits to law enforcement. It saddens the heart that some people are believing that our society has become so bad that a Catholic Hospital will stoop so low as to aid or abate a crime bothering on child stealing and kidnapping.

The couple probably believe they have a clear opportunity to make money from this as they have been sending threatening calls to our Doctors and saying that they will tear our hospital apart through social media just to force out their N250 Million Naira Demand. They even alleged during their previous social media campaign that the police have been compromised.

What we found and I hope police report will confirm it when it is out is that it was a case of human error where the sonographer in our various interrogations and that of the police claimed that he misjudged or misread his scan images (I hope people are not working in concert) hence thought there were set of twins thereby misleading the doctors. In fact, at the second scan conducted by a female radiographer, the lady insisted that she saw a single baby and not twins. The woman refused insisting that the male who did the first had told her she had twins. Argument ensued between them and the woman insisted the male radiographer be called. He did not even appear to be on duty that day but the female called him and he came to the scan room. Our hospital protocol is “in doubt escalate to your seniors or management”. These radiographers did not do that. Rather, the male ‘bullied’ the female into accepting there were twins and gave the woman the result she wanted. The woman did not also mention it to her doctors of the argument and drama at the scan room. Assuming she was sincere, why not mention it to the gynecologist to enable him repeat the scan himself. 

So, our staff prepared for delivery of twins and sadly it was one baby. The father of the baby was just outside the theatre and was immediately brought into the theatre during the CS to witness the discovery. The allegation that he was sent away was completely false. He was there while the womb of the woman was still out.

The other part was that our protocol was for doctors to use epidureal (not putting the woman for CS to sleep) so she is awake to see all that was going on. Our doctors explained that the epidureal anesthesia given to the woman failed. This I understand happens sometimes. And when this happens, doctors at the theatre will use general anesthesia to ensure the child is delivered quickly and safely. That was what happened in the case of the woman.  She has been holding unto this to insist that doctors purposefully did it to steal her baby.

They probably have been told that this matter is a goldmine for them. And when their request for 250 Million Naira appear not to be forth coming, they became upset and began a war of calumny and defamation as they promised. They do not even believe that the AIG of Force CID Alagbon who they reported to and investigating the matter, with all their professionalism, are capable of doing the right thing.

We are really saddened as this is distracting us from the huge battle all hospitals over the world face now with our health care staff putting themselves at risk to save lives.

Their allegation that our doctors stole their baby is TOTALLY UNFOUNDED. They have also gone about social media probably just because their threat and demand for 250Million Naira was not adhered to.

NOTE that there were about between 5 to 7 people in the theatre that day for the surgery. The Medical Director later joined them unannounced. The gynecologist was not even aware of the MD entry.  It was when the gynecologist started searching frantically about the second baby that the MD intervened and asked what was the matter. At which point he turned and told him “Chief we are expecting two but have only seen one”.  Immediately, while the womb of the woman was still out, the MD rushed to the nurses’ station and summoned the husband of the woman into the theatre to see for himself. He did not show any surprise.

We found out also that this woman had done a scan earlier at somewhere. The police confronted her with the fact and she denied that she never knew where the scan was done and cannot find her way to the place. She also claimed the scan was not for pregnancy but for some hernia. She also refused to produce the result of the scan saying she did not know its whereabout. Note that after the surgery, the woman had later confirmed to our anesthetist that she had done a scan elsewhere and it was a single baby. Her story changed later.

The 3 doctors include our Gynecologist, our Medical Director (who providentially stepped in unannounced in his supervisory role to ensure our protocols are adhered to) and a female Doctor who is a nursing mother.

The MD is an orthopedic surgeon and knight of the Church. A deeply religious and profoundly spiritual man.  It’s preposterous to imagine that all these conspired to steal their baby putting their professional carrier at such great risk.

How I wish that patients could be truthful. Why did this woman not even mention to our Gynecologist who saw her severally that there was a very serious objection from our female sonographer to the precious result? The least she could have done was to tell the doctor. This is what we constantly witness with some patients. Some of them tell lies a lot even to their doctors.

Again, on the day of delivery our hospital prepared for twins believing she was having twins. Two nurses were detailed to receive twins. We prepared two colts in her room for two babies. Guess what? When the woman and her husband were asked to pay for two delivery packs for the twins, they bluntly refused. The man specifically said that when he sees two babies, he will pay for the second pack. Imagine!

To cut the long story short, our doctors must be very bad thieves as not to be smart enough when planning to steal a baby they delivered. They must also be so clueless as to put their licenses at risk just to steal a baby. The story of stolen baby Sir is totally false. Unfortunately, with the help of social media they have done so much damage to our hospital while their lawyer appeared not to have helped to advise them on the implications of making such damaging statements in a matter before the police.

What still remains by biggest shock today is that their own pastor, a very responsible looking man whom they brought the day we had a meeting with them and explained things, quite clearly saw the truth and in the presence of all of us told them that what he was told before coming was not what happened. He admonished them in our presence that it was clearly human error and counselled them not to take the matter further. But invariably, no pastor can make them miss the chance of becoming the millionaire they have been dreaming of.

Thanks for your patience in reading this long one.

*The Catholic church had earlier issued a statement signed by Rev. Fr. Anthony Godonu, Director of Social Communications of the Communications Directorate of Social Communications, Catholic Archdiocese of Lagos and denied the claims by the couple and said it is not true that Mrs. Obinna had a twin. The church said the hospital staff had made Statements at the FCID Alagbon to aid police investigation of this serious allegation. The hospital maintains that the allegations and accusations are untrue, baseless and unsubstantiated. It said it had to issue the statement due to the incessant threats, and financial demands of the hospital made by the couple for their claims to be assuaged.

RULAAC spoke with ACP Danko, head of the Special Enquiry Board (ESB) handling the investigation and later with the PPRO FCID Alagbon.

ACP Danko invited RULAAC to his office for full briefing on the case.

The PPRO, FCID Alagbon responded as follows:

‘The Nigeria police has carried out extensive detailed investigation. The Catholic church was invited and have not failed to make themsrelve available along with the complainants. We expect restraint on the part of the media and CSOs. What we expect is for them to ask questions before making statements in public spaces that are indicting and prejudicial to police investigation. You need to balance information. Retired AIG Mani, former AIG Alagbon was on the case before he retired. Special enquiry bureau headed by ACP Danko has been in charge of investigation. The file has been sent to legal and as soon as legal gives a legal advice to the new AIG Danbaba Dasuki Galadanchi, we will make a public statement. All parties should exercise caution with regards to what they say’.

RULAAC’s Comments

On Police investigation

The allegation of child theft is a serious allegation. Only an evil person would want to cover up the truth or facts of this case. Police investigation would provide the basis to prove or disprove the allegation based on credible evidence. The step taken by the police in liaising with the Nigeria Medical Association is welcome and indicates how professional the police have been in the investigation and how far the police want to go in unravelling the truth. The professional intervention of the NMA is crucial in determining this case.

On the intervention by Prince Comrade Olushola Adegboye, Chairman of Human Rights Defenders and Access to Justice Centre, Shasha, Lagos

Among the cardinal principles of human rights investigation and advocacy are open mindedness, impartiality, objectivity, integrity and fair hearing which entails willingness to hear from all the parties. The intervention of any professional human rights organisation must accord with these principles. We found it strange that Prince Comrade Adegboye said repeatedly during the live broadcast that, based on Mrs. Faith Obinna’s testimony alone, that he concluded that ‘all the evidence are there’ and that there was no need to hear from the hospital. Meanwhile he threatened that he would sue the Catholic Church and the Pope.

While we are not speaking for the Catholic Church, we believe that the condescending manner spoke in his reference to the catholic church was uncalled for. He sounded like one harboring some prejudice, malice and having a personal grouse against the catholic church.

It is unprofessional for anyone to seek to reach conclusions without hearing from all sides to an issue. It is a rule of natural justice that all sides must be heard. Fair hearing is one of the cardinal due process safeguards.

Also, Adegboye’s attack and tirades against the lawyer to Mrs. Obinna during the live broadcast was also unwarranted and unnecessary. It was more of a distraction to the main issue.

In conclusion, we urge all the parties and interested groups and individuals to await the outcome of police investigation. If you feel that the investigation is taking too long, you should approach the police and find out from them what is delaying the conclusion of police investigation. RULAAC has spoken with the police and got assurance that the report would be out soon. We will continue to be in touch with the police on this case. That, we believe, is the way to go.