Warri Lawyer, Wife Arrested Over Sale of Baby Declared Dead at Birth

Delta State Police rescue child after mother discovers newborn allegedly alive three years after being told she died during delivery

A Warri lawyer, Barrister Solomon Igbiaye, and his wife, Abigail Igbiaye, have been arrested by the Delta State Police Command over the alleged sale of a newborn baby three years after the child’s mother was reportedly told that she had died. The couple were arrested and taken to the Ekpan Police Station on Wednesday after the mother lodged a complaint upon discovering that the child she was told had died in 2023 was allegedly still alive. The couple were allegedly working with a woman identified as Mary, also known as Bridget, in the suspected baby-selling scheme.

According to a source familiar with the case, the mother became pregnant in 2023 after returning to her village in Jos, Plateau State, but was allegedly abandoned by the man who fathered the pregnancy. The source said a woman from her village noticed her condition and offered to take her to Warri, where she was allegedly received by Igbiaye’s wife, who assured her that she would be cared for until she delivered the baby. The source noted that the mother was allegedly unaware of any plan involving her unborn child. According to the account, the woman had previously lived in Sapele before returning to her village in Jos. She later became pregnant after entering into a relationship with a man who allegedly denied responsibility after she informed him of the pregnancy. The source said the man subsequently left her as the pregnancy progressed. “After hearing her story, the woman promised to take her to Warri for help. Upon arriving in Warri, she was approached by the lawyer’s wife, who assured her that she would be taken care of until she gave birth. Unknown to her, there were ulterior motives at play,” the source said.

Days before her delivery, the mother was reportedly taken to Vicar Clinic, where labour was allegedly induced. According to the source, after her water broke, she was taken into the operating room for a Caesarean section and delivered a baby girl. A nurse reportedly showed her the newborn shortly after the delivery, but she allegedly never saw the child again. The source said Bridget later informed the mother that the baby had died. The mother reportedly became suspicious and demanded to be taken to the place where her child had allegedly been buried, but Bridget allegedly refused.

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Four days after the delivery, the mother was reportedly taken in a vehicle by Igbiaye’s wife and Bridget and abandoned in a dilapidated building in the Shaguolo area of Ekpan. Her condition subsequently deteriorated as her Caesarean-section wounds became infected, while she allegedly had no money or means of caring for herself. She reportedly survived by begging for food before eventually securing transportation back to Jos in a truck. The source alleged that Igbiaye’s wife paid Bridget N166,000 in connection with the arrangement, while the mother was allegedly not given any money. The source further alleged that a housemaid identified as Kindness, who reportedly worked at the lawyer’s residence and was from the same village as the mother, later told her that the baby had been brought to the lawyer’s home. Kindness allegedly sent her a photograph of the baby and told her that the child strongly resembled her.

The alleged revelation prompted the mother to question the circumstances surrounding the reported death of her daughter. According to the source, the photograph and information provided by Kindness raised suspicions that the child may not have died as she had been told, but could have been unlawfully transferred or sold. The lawyer, his wife and Bridget have been accused of conspiring in the alleged transaction. However, the circumstances surrounding the child’s birth, disappearance and subsequent whereabouts remain subject to police investigation. The suspects were subsequently taken to the Effurun Area Command for further investigation. The source told THE WHISTLER on Thursday that the baby had been rescued. “The child is with the police. Police rescued the baby this afternoon (Wednesday) upon the arrest of the duo,” the source said. The police are expected to establish what happened to the baby following the Caesarean delivery and determine whether anyone was involved in an alleged attempt to sell or unlawfully transfer the child.

When contacted, the Delta State Police Public Relations Officer, Bright Edafe, did not respond to messages seeking confirmation of the arrests and rescue of the child. The Delta State Police Command has previously demonstrated commitment to tackling child trafficking and related crimes in the state. In December 2025, the command arrested a woman for allegedly faking the abduction of her two-month-old baby and selling the child for N1.5 million to a pastor in Effurun, Uvwie Local Government Area. The woman had alleged that gunmen forcefully took her baby from her while she was in a tricycle and pushed her out. However, investigations revealed that the mother had staged the abduction and sold the child to the cleric.

The case bears similarities to other reported incidents of babies being declared dead at birth only to be discovered alive later. In June 2026, the Nigeria Police Force uncovered an alleged child trafficking operation at a private medical facility in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, leading to the arrest of several suspects, including the hospital’s Chief Medical Director. Investigators alleged that live babies delivered at the hospital were taken away and trafficked, while some mothers were falsely informed that their newborns had died during childbirth. The investigation took a more disturbing turn following the discovery of a dead infant allegedly recovered from the doctor’s office, which was reportedly embalmed for preservation. Investigators alleged that the deceased infant was sometimes presented to mothers as evidence that their babies had died. In 2014, police in Delta State arrested a couple accused of buying and selling children, including a day-old girl. The couple, a midwife and her husband, were accused of running a baby-buying scheme out of a medical store they operated in Warri. The scheme was allegedly discovered when a man desperate for cash to buy a tricycle agreed to sell his newborn child to the couple without telling his wife. When the mother awoke and asked to see her child, her husband told her the baby had died and already been buried.

The police have advised expectant mothers to ensure a trusted relative is present during delivery and urged hospitals to maintain adequate security measures in maternity wards to prevent the theft of newborns.

Warri Lawyer, Wife Arrested Over Sale of Baby Declared Dead at Birth