Key Points

• Federal court sentences Ondo couple to 14 years for detaining underage girls and selling their newborns.
• NAPTIP seizes eight cars, two bungalows and N4 million as proceeds of crime from the convicts.
• Court orders N1 million restitution payment to each of the three survivors who testified at trial.

A federal court in Ondo State has sentenced a married couple to 14 years in prison for running a baby factory where underage pregnant girls were held against their will and their newborns sold to buyers, capping an 11-year legal battle by Nigeria’s anti-trafficking agency.

Justice F.A. Olubanjo of the Federal High Court in Akure convicted Abiodun Ogundeji and Happiness Ogundeji on Feb. 26 on a 10-count charge that included unlawful detention and deprivation of personal liberty under Nigeria’s Trafficking in Persons Act. The court handed down the sentence without an option of fine.

The National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons, known as NAPTIP, announced the conviction Tuesday at a press briefing in Ikeja, Lagos.

“Preliminary investigation revealed that the two convicts operated a baby factory at their country home, where underage pregnant girls were brought in and detained against their will, deliberately awaiting delivery of their babies for sale to customers,” said Lagos Zonal Commander Comfort Agboko.

The case dates to January 2014, when the Nigerian Immigration Service referred it to NAPTIP after discovering the operation at No. 10 Sarajo Street, Ilutitun, in the Okitipupa Local Government Area of Ondo State.

A search of the premises turned up eight vehicles, two bungalows, a poultry farm and N4 million in cash found in the trunk of one of the cars. NAPTIP obtained a court order in May 2014 to seal and seize the property, and spent the following 12 years prosecuting the case through the federal court system.

The court ordered the forfeiture of all eight vehicles and both bungalows to the federal government through NAPTIP, along with the N4 million recovered during the investigation. It also directed that N1 million each be paid as restitution to the three survivors who testified during the trial.

Agboko called the verdict a landmark moment in Nigeria’s fight against human trafficking.

“This is a landmark conviction that sends a clear warning to perpetrators of human trafficking that, no matter how long it takes, they will eventually face the full wrath of the law,” she said.

She credited the Nigerian Immigration Service, the Nigeria Police in Akure and the judiciary for their roles in securing the conviction.